Truth or Dare?
by xentrya
Summary: When Xena suddenly finds herself in a rather sticky situation, our handsome God of War rushes to help...The catch is that, as always, his help comes with a price...Can you guess what the price is?
1. Play with me

**Xentrya**

**Disclaimer: Gods know I don't own anything ...**

"What do** you** want?" she hissed through clenched teeth, spitting her venom the moment she felt his presence somewhere at her left.

He simply materialized- in the same point she had guessed he would be- rolling her eyes at the whole light show thing.

" Would it have killed you if you had showed up without the special effects? Your recklessness could have easily blown my cover!" she added, a hint of reproach in her voice.

He just gave her his most irresistible smile and, wetting his lips he laid on the grass beside her, narrowing his eyes in the same direction she was staring, seconds before.

" Come on, Xe! They're so drunk that they couldn't tell apart an elephant from an alley cat, not even if the poor animal would be standing a few yards away from them….So…is this your favorite way of spending your nights, lately?"

She just arched an eyebrow at his subtle insinuation, without seeming visibly affected by the pungent irony in his tone….Since she had left his ways **and** his bed, their conversations always seemed to revolve around the same issue: their dead – but not buried- relationship….

Truth being told, he had every reason on the planet to mock her: she simply hated everything that had to do with Rome, let alone Caesar and his accursed troops, and somehow, she always ended up facing them….It wasn't like she had a choice though….Someone had to perform some godly miracle to prevent that maniac from attacking the Greek borders , and since the ever so powerful Olympians appeared to be considerably more busy with attending their famous orgies and festivals than with protecting their homelands, she decided to play the hero again, and save the day….or better said the night, given the fact that it was barely past midnight….. A full moon night that wasn't precisely offering the perfect opportunity to spy on the so called lethal army that was about to attack in the morning, but still, night-time …

" It kinda was until you showed up to ruin it for me! Now shut up, already, I need to think!"

"About…..?"

She just made a face at him. Like the subject wasn't obvious enough.

" I'm sitting behind a bush in the middle of the night, near a Roman camp! What could I be thinking about, in your humble opinion?" she bit, irked by the exasperating idiocy of his question.

He just flashed a crooked smirk, overly pleased that he had hit a nerve. As for that dark passion sparkling in her eyes, that could beat any drug any day, at least for him….

" I don't know….you do have a twisted mind, Princess…."

"Don't call me that! I do have a name! And if you're here to get on my nerves, you can as well leave. Fates know that the last thing I need right now is someone to rub me the wrong way!"

" It's said that I'm quite skilful when it comes to women….I could make an effort and find a** right** way to rub you, if you like…." he underlined, moaning in pain the very following second, when her fist collided with the top of his head.

" Just shut the Tartarus up!"

"Ouch, Xena! That was so unnecessary! You do have some pretty serious anger management issues, don't you?" he inquired, slowly massaging his head with the tip of his fingers. " Not everything is to be resolved through violence…Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and…."

"Ares, I swear it on the head of Zeus, if you don't keep your mouth shut…"

"Ok , ok…..Come on. I didn't come here to fight. I'm here to make you an offer." he finally revealed, turning on his side and resting his head on his hand, thus focusing his full, undivided attention on her. He barely managed to veil his smile when he noticed that incipient frown forming on her forehead.

He could read her like an open book…..Currently, she was still gazing at the guards, carefully counting the tents- doing some maths in the attempt to find out the total number of soldiers gathered there- but she could feel his eyes literally digging a hole through her skull…..She didn't like it, and the feeling was written all over her pretty face.

"I'm not interested in** anything** you have to offer" she simply replied, without looking at him, apparently still preoccupied with the task she had to accomplish.

" Just hear me out….It could save you a lot of trouble, you know…."

When she finally glanced his way, he could unmistakably see the complete disinterest playing on the surface of her eyes. It was time he changed that….

When he realized that he wasn't going to get any type of reply from her, he just continued, while his brain was already feverishly working at accurately anticipating her possible reaction.

"I'm willing to send my Spartans against the Romans. …." he casually mentioned, as if he were talking about the weather forecast and not about sending a part of his own people to certain death- scanning her face for a sign that their conversation was heading in the right direction. There was none….

"As if that wouldn't be in Greece's best interest….As if it were **me** the one to whom you'd be doing a favor…." she spit in disgust at his utter nonchalance.

" Greece is **Zeus**' concern….That's why he is the **King of the Gods** and of the Greek nation…."

"And you're living in Ch'in , right? " she snapped, tugging roughly at the edges of his leather vest, anger spreading fast through her aura like a shot of morphine through some old, dying man's system.. She immediately let go, doing her best to swallow back that furious growl that had stuck into her throat, as soon as she read that distinct feeling of complete satisfaction glistening in his eyes….

" You demented, self centered Bastard!" she concluded through clenched teeth, turning back on her belly, determined to ignore him for the rest of the night, or for as long as he still wanted to hang out in the area.

" That's not nice…" he answered, not at all bothered by the rich selection of epithets she had decided to use in her description of him…" Come on, think about it Xe….my men could give you all the time you need to come up with a decent plan to crush Caesar once and for all….."

"Do you actually think that I would accept to lead your army again in this lifetime? "

"Who said anything about you leading my army?" he firmly contradicted, grinning widely at her. "Oh no….I was talking about something much more amusing than that…."

She just gave him a long, disconcerted look.

"What in Tartarus are you talking about?"

" Have you ever played Truth or Dare?" he asked, silently wondering if she would actually go with it.

" As a child….."

"How about Bluff?"

"No….what are you getting at?"

" Let me explain it to you. The rules are quite simple….It's a game of cards….Whenever you lose, you have to either answer with the truth or accept a challenge. You can't refuse a challenge or avoid a question….."

" A game of cards?"

"Yes. These are the cards…" .he said, making a full pack appear before her. " We will split it into half, so that we have an equal amount of cards in our hands. I won't be seeing your cards, and you won't be seeing mine. What you have to do is to get rid of all your cards in order to win. First you need to get rid of all the twos then I will continue with all the threes, you will go on with the fours and so on….until there are no more cards. The catch is that we will both need to be extremely careful, cause the other one is likely to be bluffing the moment he doesn't have the right cards …."

"We have to call the bluff…."

"Exactly…."

" If you accuse me of bluffing and you are wrong….you lose…."

"And what does this have to do with the fight again? " she inquired impatiently, her arctic moons suddenly sparkling with vivid interest.

" We will play until sunrise. If you manage to obtain a higher number of victories, you win. I will order my soldiers to attack…."

"It will take days until they reach this area…"

"Don't you worry about that….I'm a God , remember?"

"I tend to forget it from time to time….Zeus know it's hard not to…." she muttered to herself, making him chuckled softly at just how personal she was taking it all.

" Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm hard to keep up with…"

" And if I lose….? " she asked, aware that his sudden helping hand wasn't likely to come without a price…

"Than….you get to do one single day whatever I want….Are you willing to take that risk?"

She was silent for awhile, gazing musingly ahead at Caesar's half numbed troops, wondering if there was really anything she could do by herself to prevent them from advancing the following day...She bit her lips in spite when she realized that there was nothing…..

"Fine…." she simply stated, trying to shut down each and every alarm that went instantly off in her brain the moment she made that reckless decision.

A victorious smile was already playing on the War God's sexy lips, and she just couldn't help smiling back at him the moment she noticed that silly, childish joy lightening up his features.

"Great. Let the games begin…! " he uttered in a grim, sullen voice that instead of entertaining her, only managed to bring back some rather wretched memories from her past experiences with a certain Roman Emperor. "Do you want to shuffle them?"

That particular joviality of his voice- in complete contrast with the way in which his previous line had sounded - made her shake those dark thoughts away though….

"Sure….At least this way, I can make sure that you don't cheat from the very first round…"

"It's funny you should even imply such nonsense, given that you've always been the con artist of the relationship"

"You do have a very twisted sense of humor, sometimes" she vehemently protested while picking up the deck, and casually starting to shuffle the cards.

"Isn't there anyone here who can appreciate my specialness?!" he complained in a very Gabrielle like tone that made Xena burst into laughter the following second.

"Maybe the soldiers…" she lowly answered when she finally regained her voice, wiping a few tears in the corners of her eyes.

" Ok…..Before we start…**no lying** Xena….."

"**No lying**…." she mechanically repeated, visibly more absorbed by organizing her cards then by the importance of what she had just uttered.

"Hey….." he said, touching her leg to capture her attention. When their gazes finally met, and when he was sure that she was finally focusing on what he had to say, he added:

" Swear it. Swear it on the head of Zeus that you will only tell the truth…."

"I do…. Your turn…."

"I swear it on Styx….."

"Good. Three aces. " she started, placing three cards face down in front of them, without wasting any more time with small talk.

He just cast her a wondering gaze before he placed another one on top of hers, grinning like a Cheshire cat at the fact that, without her knowing it- or so he thought- he had the hugest advantage a card player could ever dream of having: he was able sense her emotions through their bond…Her aura was all the clue he needed in order to tell if she was lying or not….

"One ace"

She just grinned back, aware that he was most likely relying on his godly powers to call her bluff….What he didn't knew, was that in Ch'in Lao Ma had thought her pretty well how to control her every emotion, and more than that, how to accurately send the wrong signals using her energetic field in the sole purpose of confusing her enemies….Alti had certainly fallen for it….Ares was- beyond any shadow of a doubt- about to reach the same bitter conclusion: he was no match for her.

" Two twos…." she continued, arching an eyebrow at his visible uncertainty. "Something wrong?" she innocently inquired, trying to eliminate even the last trace of irony from her tone.

"No. Everything's perfect….." he replied, narrowing his eyes at the cards that he was now holding. Under the disturbingly pale light of the moon, for obvious reasons, he was about to mistake a two for a three…"Same here. " he added , placing two cards on top of the pile. To his amazement, at least apparently, Xena had no problem in distinguishing their faintly glowing drawings…

In the attempt of making herself a bit more comfortable, she shifted her position slightly, tucking her legs under her…. Attentively following her every move, Ares just had to ask himself what was the reason for which she was so relaxed….And more than that, why in Hades' name was he unable to read her aura?

" One three…" she softly voiced, as if she didn't have a care in the world, briefly exchanging glances with her ever so suspicious opponent.

" You're bluffing…" he finally said, sounding extremely sure of what he was saying.

"Am I?" she seductively inquired- making his heart stop for a moment- but, surprise, surprise! When he turned her cards face up, there it was! A five instead of a three….

He just had to laugh at her technique.

"Keep trying, you'll get there." he mischievously encouraged, winking at her.

"What now? "

"Now, my dear Xena, you suddenly become ….six cards richer…..Pick them up, they're all yours. You will have to get rid of those too, at a certain point."

Without sketching the slightest emotion, as if nothing of great importance had happened, the Warrior Princess took the cards and mixed them up with the ones she was already holding, silently cursing the gesture that had given her away….whatever that was…

"So…what shall it be? Truth or dare?" the question escaped his gorgeous lips like the fine lyrics of a love song.

"Truth….." she quickly retorted, stubbornly avoiding his gaze. She could tell without even looking at him that his eyes were gleaming with amusement.

" Truth, truth, truth…." he echoed, thinking of a challenging enough question to ask her.

" What do you miss the most about our relationship?"

The words slashed the air like a sword. Xena could almost hear them wooshing by her ears before they finally dissipated into the nothingness. The effect they had on her, remained though clearly engraved on her now hardened visage.

"Who says I do miss something from our relationship?"

He just flashed her a disappointed gaze.

"No lying, Xe…." he coyly pointed out, cocking his head to one side while searching for her eyes. "Look at me…..**no lying**….." he said again, still waiting for an answer.

"Are you sure you want to know ?"

"I wouldn't have asked otherwise…."

" Sleeping in your arms…." she finally revealed, in such an icy voice that Ares couldn't help feeling that she hated him with every fiber of her being for having dared force her say it out loud.

" Ouch….." he simply stated, gulping nosily all the other comments that were struggling to come out.

"Three fours…"

The cards landed on the grass inaudibly, face down, just like they were supposed to, just inches away from her knees.

" One four….."

" And…here's one five for ya' "

" One five huh? Too bad I have all four of them….So….truth or dare?" she bluntly asked, without even bothering to turn the cards.

"Damn…..you've nailed me…. " he had to admit it, obviously enjoying the whole situation though, to Xena's unspeakable surprise. " Hmmm…..I guess I'll go with the truth for now….."

" That night I spent with Hercules….did it hurt…much ?"

Needless to say, the question hit him like a tone of bricks; it sure wiped that over confident smile off his face, like nothing else could have….

" So you like playing tough, huh?" he remarked, ineffectively trying to laugh the pain away . Nonetheless, an awkward moment of silence later, he gave her the answer she was waiting for…..

Despite having hoped to get even for the boldness of his question, the Warrior Princess quickly discovered that the God's line only managed to leave a bitter taste behind….

" Like a blade to the heart….Torture…." he continued on a strangled voice that she almost failed to recognize. "It was torture…."

" Four aces….." she uttered in a weak voice, cutting any other line he still had the intention of adding.

" Giving them all up so soon? " he jokingly inquired, trying to feign that his entire being hadn't been shaken to the very core by her previous interrogation…

" I still have one or two up my sleeve. " she retorted on the same cheerful tone. The sadness in his eyes was eating at her soul though….She didn't like the feeling….

" Two sixes…."

" Two sixes it is…." she continued, her mind already gliding back towards those not very bright moments of their relationship….He had nearly killed her that night when she went looking for him, aware that she had made a mistake, eager to explain herself to him….

When their gaze met again, she instantly realized that they must have been thinking about the same thing….A shiver ran down her spine at the realization….

" Two sevens…"

"Two sevens…." she echoed, roughly pushing all thoughts aside, adamant about winning the round.

"One eight…." he announced, as another card fell down before her.

" Two eights…." she said, while actually trying to get rid of a three and a five."

"You never learn do you? " he said, turning her cards face up, smiling wickedly the moment he saw the cards.

"How can you tell?" she inquired with childish curiosity, a genuine reaction that made him burst into laughter.

"I guess mortals are not really good liars after all…" he replied, snapping his fingers to ignite a fire the second he noticed that she had wrapped her arms around her….She was cold.

"What are you doing? The guards might see it….." she protested, casting an alarmed look in the direction of the camp just to gasp in surprise at the realization that they were no longer there…

"Come on, Xe. You didn't really think we would be playing cards just yards away from the enemy camp, did you?"

She just rolled her eyes again at his ever so annoying way of doing things, still in shock at the fact that she hadn't even felt their voyage through the aether….

" Dare…" she broke the ice, denying him the satisfaction to ask, this time.

" Dare, huh? " he asked in disbelief, a bit taken aback himself by the fact that she had been so caught up in their little game that she had actually failed to see the blinding lights of the vortex…..How was that even possible? " You wouldn't be able to refuse me, Xena, no matter the challenge…." he made it clear for her before having announced his command.

She just flashed him a naughty grin in return, one that finally made a real smile appear on his face.

"Kiss me …." he calmly ordered, fascinated by the absolutely surreal beauty of her face, which, under the dazzling effect of the light orange flames of the fire dancing between them, had become an absolute master piece of nature…..

He had expected at least one attempt of protest from her behalf…at least one little speech hinting at his frighteningly lacking morals, something having to do with the blatant easiness with which he always used to take advantage of her each and every weakness….

Despite all his well founded theories though, she slowly got up, and, without uttering one single word, with firm but barely perceived steps- as if she had been some mysterious apparition and not a real flesh and blood being- she moved past the fire, her gaze locked on his, and, before he knew it, her hand was resting on his knee and her dark, silky tresses were soon caressing his face as she bent down to kiss him….He shivered at the contact, closing his eyes when he felt the warmth of her palm resting on his cheek.

…A barely felt brush of his lips later, it was over….hardly a kiss on might say….but an incentive enough touch to leave him literally breathless, as if the world itself had ended just to begin again the minute he felt her so close to him …He exhaled softly against her mouth once it was over, and, as moments elapsed, he finally became aware of that ever so rare sensation that his stomach was fluttering -as if he were falling and didn't know when or where he would land-….Trying to somehow regain his composure, he gently raised a hand to brush a few fallen strands from her perfectly sculpted visage. …It was her turn to shiver and he could distinctly feel her do so, the very moment his hand glided down her cheek and further down along the side of her neck….

As she got up again and headed back to her place, he instinctively covered his mouth with the tip of his fingers….His lips were burning as if they had been touched by fire….

From the other side of the flames, the Warrior Princess tried to ignore the goose bumps that had covered even the last inch of her skin, as well as that strangling regret that she couldn't afford their contact to last longer….

" Was that it?" he questioned, he himself a bit disappointed by the teenage innocence of their kiss.

" Well…your challenge wasn't really specific" she chuckled, bemused by his uncommonly sincere comment.

In response , he threw a tiny pebble into the playful flames, casting his cards a brief glance, while rapidly considering his options.

Soon, the game was on again….

" Three nines…." he began.

" One nine…."

" Aaaand….two tens for the beautiful lady …." he continued, in a smooth, alluring voice, while with eagle like eyes he followed her every gesture, secretly mesmerized by the sheer elegance behind each and every one of them.

"Two tens " she repeated, throwing down her cards, scrutinizing his face for a sec, eager to find any trace of deceit playing in his soft, amber eyes.

" Two kings " he answered, sincerity vibrating in his voice.

"One queen….." she announced, praying to all gods that he wouldn't call her bluff.

" Here's another one " he said, playing pretend not to have sensed that considerably lower note on which she had chosen to present her offer.

"And another one " she added, placing her card down.

"You're bluffing " he suddenly accused, in a quite excited voice.

"No I'm not" she contradicted, turning the card herself….

She was right…..She had been telling the truth.

"Damn I was so close! " he exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm getting rusty, aren't I?"

" Don't be so dramatic! You're just a couple of millennia older than me! " she laughed, making sure to throw him that newly formed pile of cards…"Truth or dare…?" she kindly asked, doing her best not to rub his nose in the defeat….

He just smirked back at her comment, taking in a deep breath of air as he noticed that she was still holding a couple of cards in her hand….With a bit of luck, he still had a fair chance to win the round.

" Truth!" he uttered on a disturbingly enthusiastic tone given the pain brought by their first confessions.

After a few seconds of reflection, Xena finally voiced her question, unsure if she even wanted to know the answer to it….

" You've been around for quite some time now…..How many women have you been in love with so far?"

His answer was of a nerve racking ambiguity…..

" I'd say…**.two**…..and in spite of all the nasty rumors, neither of them was my mother" he mockingly specified, making her to literally want to slap herself for not having asked him to include names to that list.

" Taking about unspecified details…." he remarked when reading that huge question mark on her face.

" Three knights…." she impatiently started, to Ares' delight, determined to find out the name of those women and solve the enigma.

" One knight…"

" Three eights…."

"One eight …."

" One ace " she challenged.

At that ridiculous statement, Ares had to flash a devilish again….That repeated blink of her eyes, at such short interval had been her tomb stone… He could see right through her….

" Save it, Princess. Truth or dare? " he demanded to know, already thinking about a compromising enough question to match her own.

When she asked for a challenge instead, his whole body tensed at the amazing opportunity that had presented so out of the blue….

Everything appeared to be happening in slow motion for Xena afterwards, as if the God's every move was a completely distinct one, broken gestures that weren't really connected to one another, but, that at the same time, were strangely enough, perfectly linked….An impossible situation one might say, and still, as the distance between them gradually diminished, the very fabric of reality itself seemed to have altered in the Warrior Princess's eyes.

The colors appeared suddenly much more vibrant than before, of an indescribable intensity, despite the dim obscurity of the night, as for that rustic smell of burnt wood that had somehow managed to mix with his unique, trademark cinnamon fragrance, now that was the secret ingredient that made all her senses run wild as he approached her.

Time might have stopped flowing for a little while though, at least when his soft but firm hand went just below her chin, tilting it up a bit as he bent towards her….

"That kiss….let me show you how it's done…." he whispered seductively against her lips, sweetly allowing his fingers to caress her silky, elegantly cascading tresses for an insignificantly short moment, before they finally entwined in them, pulling her roughly closer to him.

Needless to say that by then, Xena's throat had closed. She tried to swallow and found the way blocked. She tried to breathe, but she failed miserably ….Miserably indeed…And while her heart kept drumming unevenly and embarrassingly loud, all that she found herself able to do, was to slightly part her lips the moment his thumb went from the vicinity of her chin to their wet, velvety surface, massaging them for a split second before his own soft and gentle lips decided to replace it, making her feel weak under the effect of that deliriously powerful cocktail of euphoria, lust and surprise traveling with the speed of light through her veins…

….As soon as his tongue joined the action, moving inside her mouth to meet her own

in a passionate tango, Xena could feel her head spinning with growing arousal.

She couldn't quite tell how long the kiss lasted, but she did know that it wasn't as long as she would have liked it to….When he finally released her mouth, he pulled away just enough to look into her still hypnotized eyes and smile, delicately brushing her face with the back of his hand before adding a sensual " See? It's not so hard once you get the hang of it…"

There was a short pause before the rest of his line brought her back to reality…

"I guess this makes me the winner of the first round. I have to say, I do enjoy playing with ya', Princess. " he said, the most sexy smile imaginable painted on his face. "….Only five more hours till sunrise for you to kick my ass….." he jokingly warned her.

She arched an eyebrow at the realization that he was right…..He had managed to get rid of all his cards…..Five hours left….

**Chapter 2 coming up soon ...**


	2. Seeing is believing

*****Thank you so much for your reviews guys, and a special thanks to _Mareritt ( I must say I'm flattered and still surprised that people actually read my stories. Who would have thought?) X/ A FOREVER***_**_  
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"Ok...now what?" she detachedly inquired, trying to trick her brain into believing that a lost battle didn't equal a lost war, and that against all odds, winning their little game was still a piece of cake.

"Now, my dear Xena, we can start playing another hand. Would you like a break to invoke some friendly Gods for help or something?...Tyche is quite a sucker for long, melodramatic orations, so if you feel like begging for her assistance, be my guest. For a good cause, I'm sure willing to wait…. " he mockingly retorted, winking playfully at her.

She just sneered at the utter immaturity of his comment, silently promising herself to teach him a lesson as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

"How thoughtful of you…." she dispassionately remarked, extending a hand for the deck, adamant about getting the show on the road, already. " Now if you're done bragging…"

"Ah ah ah! " he condescendingly interrupted, wagging his finger at her. " New rules, Honey. I would hate to see you bored, so…."

Despite her every intention to avoid focusing on his persona more than needed, she suddenly realized that he had inexplicably managed to capture her full attention again, a rather intriguing detail that he himself could easily notice- her unconsciously arched left eyebrow and the bewitching way in which her persisting gaze had unwisely chosen to linger on his gorgeously sinful mouth, being more than enough to convince him of the unquestionable influence he had on her. .

…..Driven by the same unawareness, he bit his lower lip… He could still feel her fiery breath scorching their surface, pushing him towards the edges of sanity with her intoxicating nearness…

….He almost flinched at the realization that a very suggestive moan was right about to escape his mouth, the minute an even more recent memory-the one of that fresh, delicate scent of her hair as he pulled her closer to him-invaded his mind, sending a sizzling bolt of pleasure laced with the choking anxiety to possess her, straight to his groin, from where it spread through the rest of his body with the dazzling speed of electricity.

"Are you going to wait for sunrise to tell me about those rules?" she stung, eager to balance accounts….

It took him about half a minute to actually decode the meaning of her words, and when he did look up at her, he appeared to have just woken up from a trance.

"Daydreaming in the middle of the night, huh? ….Maybe you were right about that age difference after all. Next thing I know, you'll be walking around Olympus with a frame, War God…" she continued, obviously taking great pleasure in humiliating him.

He just had to laugh at the situation…indeed, he must have looked like a silly buffoon staring at his own honking, round, red nose.

"Just working at building suspense, Darling. " he retorted, his deep, husky voice, filled with lust and dark sensuality.

An indefinite number of seconds of an almost visual silence followed before he finally decided to announce the novelty of the game:

" During this round, we will no longer have the privilege to choose between Truth and Dare ourselves….Instead, we will have to let the Fates do their thing, and…"

"Heads and Tails?" she impatiently interrogated, already anticipating the content of his line.

"My, my! Aren't you the impatient one!" he remarked, casually throwing her a one dinar coin, a golden piece that magically pierced the thick veil of darkness- describing a perfect arc above the soft smoke rising from their little campfire- before it landed flat in her palm, as if it belonged there.

"…..but that's precisely what I was talking about, yes" he concluded, stretching his hand out to reach the deck resting on the ground, in between them.

She didn't say anything this time, but her highly observant eyes followed his every move, partially fascinated by his unusual dexterity of shuffling the cards, and partially still skeptical with the very concept of him playing fair….

Once an equal number of cards had been dealt, they eyed each other one last time before finally launching a full scale mental war against each other.

Given that he was holding the upper hand thus far, the War God was visibly enjoying the game, an expression of boundless satisfaction spreading on his face the instant he glanced down at his cards, and despite the fact that he was well aware just how wrong it was to celebrate a victory before the battle had even started, he just couldn't help himself…He had to say it :

" I really think we should call it a night, Princess, or soon you'll be crying your eyes out in frustration."

She just threw him a scornful glare before finally gracing him with an arrogant enough reply to match his own, apparently not at all intimidated by his useless ranting.

" If I didn't know better, I'd say that you're already bluffing, and that you're crying your desperation on the inside…"

" A two…." he answered, laughing full heartedly at the ridiculousness of her statement. "…..and let's see who will be crying after having tossed that coin…."

She gulped inaudibly only a few seconds later….There were no twos amongst her cards….He had them all….

She just threw a three on top, doing her best to control that rapidly increasing restlessness that she could now feel building somewhere in the pit of her stomach...a very unpleasant sensation, for sure.

"Another two…."

Just a couple of steps away from her, Ares was gently stroking his goatee, quietly wondering for how long he should prologue her torment before finally squashing each and every ounce of her pride…

"Aaand one more…!." he ecstatically exclaimed, only to meet a set of cold blue eyes, half way.. Nonetheless, neither her poisonous stare, nor her suddenly stern face seemed to have an effect on him….

"Two threes " were the cards that she added to the pile one moment later, or that was what Ares was supposed to believe…... He didn't fall for the trick of course, not after having noticed just how shallow her breathing had become- proof enough that she was lying…

" Flip that coin, Xena! Heads for Truth, Tails for Dare….. " he urged, making her card turn face up with one wave of his hand.

She just took in a deep breath before complying with the unavoidable command.

"_Heads….."_ she murmured to herself, closing her eyes for a split second.

As soon as the golden piece fell back down on the ground, she sighed in some sort of relief….At least it was what she had wanted it to be….

" Truth it is, then…..Ok, Miss Honesty, let me here ya….'" he started, in the same old **" I'm the king of the world"** tone of his.

Without even realizing it, the Warrior Princess was absent mindedly cracking her knuckles at his yet unuttered question.

" Feeling nervous? " he interrogated, while rhythmically drumming both hands against his knees, not quite determined about what to ask her, out of the many questions he had in store for her…..

" Yeah….I'm about to have a stroke." she grimly retorted, yawning profoundly and stretching her legs a bit while tilting her head back, in the vain attempt to relax.

More than aware that his next question would probably cost him the following half an hour of good humor, Ares just fired away his dilemma, avoiding Xena's alerted gaze, and diverting his attention towards the flames, instead.

"Why **him**….out of all people, Xena….Why **him**?"

In the silence that took over shortly after, only the primal melody of dry wood cracking under the now consuming, hungry flames could be heard. The light cast by the fire, danced across the dark trunks of trees, twisting and curling in obscure shapes that were supposed to match their heavy hearts…As the wind sent a couple of feeble sparks into the air, Xena flinched….

She briefly scrutinized his face for some sign of biting sarcasm before offering a reply, somewhat furious that he was so gods damn eager to dig up their past….On the other hand, she was rather angry with herself for having allowed him to drag her along in his silly game, in the first place. She should have hit him harder in the head when he first mentioned that deal, end of the story.

" Ares….do you really want to go there? We've already talked about this, there's…." she tried to reason with him, pretty sure that those particular wounds were still open and bleeding resentment from the very core of his heart.

"Just answer the damn question." he rudely cut in, his gaze still focused on the mystical dance of the flames.

She instinctively looked away, not quite getting herself to do it….She wasn't notably proud about that night's events, not proud at all; as for Ares, he could probably still feel his iron like hands chained tightly around her neck while trying to choke her to death…..It was fairly understandable why she was as reluctant as a virgin getting laid for the first time, to even think about the subject…

"Answer me." he ordered again, doing his best to keep calm, but as their eyes met, she could clearly see the yet unprocessed residues of a menacing amount of wrath, shadowing the previous childish joviality of his amber moons..

" Would you prefer the long or the short version?" she spat, adamant about giving him what he wanted- a cruel enough truth to quench his thirst for personal drama, once and for all.

" Just talk. I'll know when to stop you…."

Suddenly, her voice sounded just as loaded with spite as his had been, before.

" He was what I needed at the moment…."

"What was that ? A thick, rigid cock for you to play with?" he insultingly questioned, now staring at his fingernails. " You could have called…"

She shook her head disapprovingly.

"Whatever. You didn't struggle to understand it back then, you sure won't do it now…." she bit, flaring up at the utter malice of his comment.

" To understand it? To understand** what**? That apart from having left me without a word, without a damn explanation, apart from having trampled all over my heart **and** my ego, you mockingly chose Jerkules to fuck around with?"

Now, he really sounded pissed.

"It wasn't like that, and you know it….Ares, come on…Plus….I thought you said you were over it and that we were to never bring it up again…."

" I am….That doesn't mean that I've also been able to delete the image of his disgusting hands roaming up and down your naked body…."

"Yeah , well….we all have our traumas to live with…." she retorted, obviously hinting at his unimaginably violent outburst from back then.

He just scoffed loudly at the apparent detachment in her voice.

"You don't really give a damn anymore, do you?" he inquired, throwing another pebble into the fire while glaring accusingly at her.

She just bit her lower lip furiously. Gods, his stubbornness was so frustratingly annoying at times!

" You know that's not true…"

"Right….It does show…."

" What do you want me to say Ares? I've said all that was to be said that night! I'm sorry ok? I was upset and vulnerable and…"

"…..And thinking with your damn vagina!"

" Oh please! Like you were any different! Using your cock for a brain is as natural as water falling from the sky, for you! How many priestesses, sluts and other forms of life did you fuck while we were together?"

She was the one that was fuming, now.

" None...!" he instantly contradicted, offended by the mere fact that she had the guts to imply it. " Unlike you, I'm quite familiar with the notion of loyalty!"

She just rolled her eyes at the ludicrousness of his statement.

"Yeah. They must have drawn your portrait in the dictionary, next to the word! "

"Have you seen me with other women while we were together, by any chance?!" he barked at her, unable to control his rage any more.

" Just because you can't see the air, that doesn't mean it's not there!" she growled through clenched teeth, her entire body tensing as a wave of unspeakable anger washed over her.

"Yeah well…on the other hand, you know what they say…**seeing is believing**….Two fours!" he finally muttered, throwing the cards face down at her feet.

"Had enough? " she hissed, still glaring daggers at him.

" For the time being…." he simply replied, pointing towards her cards.

" Two fours" she retorted, sick and tired with his bellicose attitude.

"A five"

"Three fives"

He frowned a bit while reorganizing his cards, sensing the urgency in her voice….She was obviously eager to get this done with….

"One six" he said while trying to slow down the pace of the game.

"Three sixes…"

This time, he just had to arch an eyebrow at her….Taking a deep breath, he tried to clear his head, doing the very impossible to put their little banter aside and just focus on beating the crap out of her…

"Two seven " his distant words echoed in her head, making her even more determined to win that round.

…..Sadly, it was not in the cards for….Not yet…..

"One seven"

"You're bluffing!" he firmly accused, without bothering to turn the cards. "Toss the coin."

His imperative tone, instantly turned in a sudden reminder of why she hated him that much, to begin with. He was a selfish, insensitive Bastard, who's only pleasure was to torment and control her….

"Heads….." she whispered as the golden dinar touched the ground.

Without wasting any more time, the God just popped the question, giving its heavy emotional content no second thoughts ….

" Why did you leave, in the first place?"

" You were suffocating me!" she spat, dying to see some pain engraved on his features, but all she saw was mocking bemusement when, right out of nowhere, a lightening bolt hit the ground, just a few yards away from the spot where she was seated.

" Xena, Xena , Xena….You've just sworn on the head of Zeus to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, remember? No lying, Darling! I would hate to see you reduced to a pile of ashes! " he ironically remarked, flashing a mischievous grin at her visible discomfort.

"_This is going to be interesting"_ he thought, curious about what she could be hiding.

"You were saying?" he cleverly added, refusing to give her the time to fabricate another lie.

It was her turn to stare blankly towards those flames.

" I was scared….."

Now that was a bit shocking….

"Of?" he anxiously inquired when he saw that he had to literally drag the words out of her.

" I guess you'll have to wait your turn for the next question." she said, while picking up the cards she still needed to add to those she was already holding. "Three aces"

After having mentally cursed the day she was born, Ares glanced at the cards in his hand.

"One ace"

"One eight" she calmly continued.

"Two eights"

"And another one…"

"A nine."

" This is slowly turning into a habit, I see" he stated, turning her card face up, convinced that she had been bluffing again. He almost gasped in surprise when he discovered that she had been telling the truth….Under the faint orange light of the fire, a pretty nine of diamonds was winking at him….

He spitefully gathered the cards from the ground, and flipped the coin.

" Tails….." he indifferently announced.

Truth being told, he couldn't care less about the side on which the coin would land…He was shameless enough to do right about anything she could have asked of him, as for the confessing part….no one said that he couldn't **unintentionally** omit a few disturbing details here and there….

"I dare you to answer a question…." she astutely challenged, getting a bit closer to the fire. It was quite chilly outside.

"You do know that the game is called Truth **OR** Dare, for a reason right? You can't ask for the truth during a Dare! If not, they would have simply called it the Bitter Truth, or something! " he replied, rolling his eyes at her.

"You're just jealous that you didn't come up with the idea first….." she humorously stung, well aware that attacking his sky high pride was the fastest way to make him take the bait.

He just laughed at her ingenious way of getting what she wanted, silently telling himself that he had at least managed to teach her a thing or two about human nature over the years.

"Fine. What do you wanna know?"

" What really triggered that outburst after my…**encounter** with Hercules, that night?"

He couldn't help sneering in contempt at the outrageously mild word she had chosen to use for that absolutely savage fuck they had shared. Heck, her cold bloodedness was almost funny…

" Excuse me. " he specified. " You have to understand my…..uh ….slight amusement at your elegant word selection…"

Feigning not to feel affected by his reaction, she just continued.

" Was it the fact that it was **him **out of all people- as you chose to put it-, or was it the fact that I was no longer your **property**? "

Hearing her, he briefly contemplated the possibility of actually making a dash at her and just slap her to saint, sweet oblivion for the next couple of hours left till sunrise. "

" Are you kidding me right now?" he asked, her sheer arrogance eating away at him.

Indeed, he had to admit it to himself, the most difficult moments in his long, controversial life up then, had always been the ones in which he needed to decide whether he wanted to kill her or to love her….to worship her like a Goddess or to rip the heart out of her- for the sole purpose of stuffing it down her throat afterwards, making sure she choked with it? Quite a tough call…

In the end, it was her intriguingly blank face that made him speak, each word meant to graze, burn and poison her on the inside- simultaneously, if possible.

"You'll **always** be** my** **property** whether you like to admit it to yourself or not. So no….that wasn't it…And neither was that slutty stunt you pulled with my dimwit half brother. It was the betrayal itself that nearly cost you your life that night. Hardly had you left my bed, that you were already screaming some other man's name….losing yourself into his touch, feeding yourself with his every breath….**wanting** him….I should have killed you then and there, Xena….I should have cut your deceiving, mortal body to little pieces…."

"Why didn't you? I sure gave you every little chance to get even …." she hissed, overwhelmed by that smothering hatred vibrating from his every pore.

" I almost did, remember…? That's better than nothing, I guess" he answered, his voice audibly lower than before, as he accidentally caught a fleeting flash of pain in her eyes.

"Why? Why not?"

"It's hard to explain….." he simply retorted, finally looking away from her, that disturbingly familiar agony in his chest, threatening once again his mental balance.

"Try me." she insisted, and as he gazed back at her again, those arctic blue moons of hers seemed to see right through him, peering into his very soul, through all the dust and ashes that the passing of time had left behind….

"Have you ever loved somebody so much that you can barely breathe when you're with'em, and at the same time hate'em with a passion, with every fiber of your being? Such were my feelings for you, back then….I wanted to do it….Gods know I did….But somehow, that overly tempting image of your limp body lying in a pool of blood, hurt more than the sound of your animalistic moans when you came….You can blame my deeply romantic nature for that…" he satirically concluded, utter bitterness in his voice.

When he spoke again, she was deep in thought, still taken aback by his previous words…..

"Xena!" he repeated, considerably louder this time. She flinched at the sound of his voice. "There's a ten there."

She mechanically added another one, her mind still focused on their "heart to heart" conversation.

"And two aces "

"Two more" she briefly replied, shaking her head lightly as if trying to get rid of those restless thoughts, whirling inside her head….

" Three knights."

" One knight. "

" Two queens "

She hesitated a bit. He didn't have too many cards in his hand….

"Two queens…"

"Three kings…"

"One more…."

She finally had to pay for her distraction…..

" Tsk, tsk, tsk…Didn't Cyrene teach you that little girls get punished when they lie?" he questioned, quite sure that she had been bluffing again.

" I'm not a little girl anymore..." she replied with a grin.

Nonetheless, when the card was flipped over, it was his turn to flash her a bright, victorious smile.

The Warrior Princess escaped a loud gasp, her blue moon instantly widening at the sight…..she had accidentally chosen a nine of hearts instead of a king of spades…

" Well…this was an easy win …." he proudly proclaimed. " But don't worry, Xena, it's not the end of the world….Winning isn't everything in life….Sometimes, enjoying the game beats the sweet taste of victory…."

His little speech only made her even angrier with herself than she already was.

" Well come on….Let's get this done with….." he said, throwing her the golden dinar.

" Wow! Tails! How I've missed putting you to work!" the ear splitting loud exclamation burst out of his lungs as soon as the coin touched the ground.

Before she could say anything, he had already waved his hand, and a large, impressively fluffy, dark red blanket and a dozen of lively colored satin pillows appeared somewhere behind him. He just threw himself on top of them, his leather vest vanishing in the process, as if he had never even worn one….As for the icing on the cake, he thoughtfully made her battledress dematerialize only to be replaced by a sexy , royal blue baby doll nightie.

" Well don't just stand there, Honey. Come here. I have a job for you…..And given that you are my property and all, you can't say no, now, can you?"

She just flashed a murderous glare in the direction of his now extended hand.

" If you think for one single minute that I will…"

"I'll be gentle, I promise…." he rushed to intervene, on the most theatrical tone he could come up with, accurately hitting a nerve.

"You pathetic little weasel! …." she started, only to be interrupted again within seconds.

"Oh come on already, Princess, I was just joking. Where's you sense of humor? I only need a back rub, for crying out loud. ….It makes sense given my **antediluvian age** and all…" he insisted, a hint of reproach in his eyes. ….Did she actually think for one minute that he would stoop so low as to force her to have sex with him?

With slow, hesitant steps, she finally closed in the distance between them, anger still written all over her face.

" Roll over!" she briefly commanded as if he had been some worthless mutt. " And play dead, while you're at it! If you dare flinch one muscle, I swear I'll break your neck, Ares!" she warned him, as she finally straddled him.

He just let out a loud sigh when her soft , skillful hands began massaging his back….Her touch felt absolutely phenomenal, as for the awareness that she was right there on top of him….Well let's just go on and say that the event needed no further debate…

One half a minute later, just when a somewhat regretful Warrior Princess was on the verge of mumbling an excuse for having unnecessarily snapped at him, the God uninspiredly decided that it was time to tease her again. Moaning, panting and purring at her every touch was in his opinion the fastest way to get her to blow up like a super volcano, to his ultimate delight, of course.

"Oh God, Baby, that feels soooooo good !…..Yeah…..A little lower…..that's right…Mmmmm, that's what I was talking about….Harder Sweetie, harder! ….Ohhhh yeah…You are so incredibly good with your hands….."

"Would you shut up already?" she barked at him, slapping him as hard as she could.

" Holy Tartarus, yeah! Slap me, Baby, slap me!...You know I like it rough…Spank my booty!" he passionately added, to her sky high exasperation. Consequently, as soon as that naughty line got to her ears, a rain of fists landed all over his back!

"Gods I hate you!" she screamed at him in between punches, blinking in surprise but a couple of seconds later, at the unexpected turn of events...

...Before she could actually get to enjoy the results of her violent outburst, Ares had already flipped her on her back, covering her body with his own, pinning her wrists above her head, his ever so tempting lips just a few inches away from hers….

"I hate you, you Bastard! I hate you!" she vengefully repeated, her face flushed with anger, and frustration, and …

"I hate you too" he replied with a barely perceived smile, the utter softness of his voice, as well as the longing vibrating from it, stating something entirely different.

Just as she opened her mouth to add a footnote to what was about to turn into a very promising, turbid discourse, instead of allowing her to keep ranting, the God preferred to crush her lips with his own, biting them savagely before parting them with his tongue, his mind suddenly darkened by a demonic lust to have her, to feel her...Soon, despite herself, Xena found herself kissing him back, an unrestrained gasp of pleasure coming from her throat as one of his hands moved from her wrists down to her breasts, fondling them a bit through that nearly inexistent fabric, before finally shifting it possessively to her neck.

"I hate you…."she whispered again in between breaths, her mind clouded with ecstasy at the awareness that, without even knowing it, the Bastard had been right: she did belong to him, she was his property….

"Tell me about it…" he murmured in response, once the kiss ended, placing a soft -loving one this time-on her nose, then one on her forehead, and a sweeter one back on her lips…"I hate you more than life…."


	3. When winners become losers

"…. I hate you more than life…"

She smiled softly at his reply, a rather silly smile that she rushed to wipe off her face as quickly as possible, cursing once more his unmatchable ability to dissolve her anger with the force of one single kiss …Taking into consideration their long, intricate history, from her perspective, the power he held over her was rather humiliating than - as all the rest of the mortal fans might call it- sweet.

" That's perfectly all right with me…" she stubbornly retorted, looking away while pushing him aside, despite the jocular note in his voice.

To her utter surprise, he didn't sketch the slightest gesture to keep her pinned to the ground as he would have normally done. He just licked his lips while hungrily staring at her long, perfectly shaped legs as she got up, nodding his head appreciatively as she headed a few steps away, closer to the fire.

" You do know that you'd be considerably more comfortable here, right? " he mentioned, playfully patting the velvety blanket he was seated on, when she finally regained her place on the cold grass.

" I'm fine here, thank you" she simply stated, no trace of emotion in her voice, directing instead all her attention towards shuffling the cards.

"By Olympus woman, you're as stubborn as Cerberus! " he exclaimed with an exasperated sigh while making an equally fluffy blanket appear under her. A long, purple, cotton bath robe soon followed, obviously meant to keep her a bit warmer, and protect her from the chilly night air..."Just a different type of armor..." he added with a grin.

She growled her discontent of course at his sick obsession of dressing and undressing her whenever he felt like it.

" You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"Frankly, I've never tried. "

"Well start trying. You're acting like a maniac!"

"I **am** a maniac, remember?" he admitted on such a natural tone, that she just had to wonder if he had ever realized just how furious and frustrated his behavior could get her at times.." What would you expect?"

She simply rolled her eyes at his childish reply….He was indeed a maniac…And a dumb one too.

"What?" he questioned, scandalized by her attitude.

His ignorance left her speechless. There was obviously no use in struggling to make him see things her way, for there was no chance in Tartarus to ever succeed such clamant victory over his obtuse mind.

"Nothing…..these are your cards…." she muttered, placing a part of the deck in front of him.

"Wait wait wait!...I haven't mentioned the rules…." he rushed to intervene.

"What, more rules?"

"Gotta keep you interested Hun'."

" Yeah, well you can add that to your wish list !" she spat in disgust.

The God's eyes immediately narrowed at her reaction, musingly fixing their gaze on a distant spot of the horizon while he frenziedly searched his brain for the specific line that had managed to upset her to that extent. …..

"What now?" her words pulled him back from his trance.

"Now I'm willing to give you an advantage…."

"An advantage?" she inquired, mistrust shining like diamonds on the clear surface of her sapphire moons. " Is it Solstice already?"

"Very funny. This time, whenever you lose, you'll have to guess in which fist I'm hiding the coin."

"And if I do?" the Warrior Princess questioned, fascinated by the possibility of finally taking her revenge.

" Then you're off the hook. No truth or dare for you, during that round."

"Ok….." she replied with a smile, stealing a glance at her cards, not wanting to look too impatient…Her smile widened...a quite favorable selection this time….

"Don't get your hopes up…Two aces" the God started, not as thrilled as Xena was about his hand.

"Two more"

"A three." he continued, in a strong, confident voice that had nothing to do with the lousy cards he was now carefully scanning.

"Two threes" she announced, subtly inspecting his face for any signs of deceit.

"Three fours"

"One four"

"A five"

"You're bluffing" she called, eyes shining with mischief the moment that very familiar, involuntary twitch of his upper lip, let her know that he had been lying…

Without waiting for an answer, and without bothering to turn the card up to check for the indisputable proof that he had lost, she took the coin, placed it in her right palm, and from there, straight to her back where she shifted it a bit left-right, right-left until she finally decided that keeping it in her right hand was the best solution.

"So War God…take your pick…..which one is it?" she asked, extending her crossed fists before him.

Ares weighed his options for a couple of seconds, deep in thought one might say- even if his mind was actually restlessly drifting back to their previous conversation and to the equally savage way in which she had responded to his kiss…

"Tough choice, huh?" she added, seeing that he wasn't going to answer soon.

" Not really…." he detachedly remarked, while gently covering her left hand with his own.

Despite her unbound relief, Xena decided to celebrate her little victory silently, no nasty, mocking comebacks….Not with him still leading the game….

"Who gets to choose the truth or dare?" she questioned, unsure of the rule.

"You do…." he responded, making himself a bit more comfortable, as another pillow appeared under his elbow. Xena flinched at the imposing image she had before her…He looked like a mighty king on his golden throne..…The son of Zeus…a well deserved name, beyond any shadow of a doubt…

"Who were they?"

Her voice sounded as brittle and sharp as a broken sliver of glass, he noticed, partially flattered and partially intrigued by the barely disguised aversion reverberating from her tonality.

**"They?"** he hesitantly inquired, furrowing his brows as if he hadn't understood the question. Truth being told, he had been expecting it for awhile now, aware that his previous answer had hit its mark to perfection and that he had successfully managed to trample all over her sky high pride with that uncensored declaration.

"The two women you were in love with…" she spelled out, a barely perceived blush on her cheeks- colour that could have been easily blamed on the restless flames dancing between them- involuntarily making it crystal clear for him just how uncomfortable the content of his question had made her feel.

Despite her undeniable interest in his past love life, the God could see way beyond that…It didn't take too much effort from his part to realize that what she really wanted to know, was what exactly had been her place in his life….

When his eyes met hers, their gazes remained chained to each other for a disturbingly long, silent moment. For once, he decided to completely ignore the spite sparkling in her blue moons and to act more like his old, conniving , Bastard self. Judging by her unjustified coldness, she did deserve a free fall after all, he thought.

"One of them was the absolute synonym of joy, craziness and unlimited freedom…..A very special platinum blonde that taught me some pretty interesting sex techniques…."

"Aphrodite…" she whispered, doing her best to dissimulate the consuming jealously that she could already feel spreading her tentacles like worms inside her heart.

" Yep….my silly little Sis- who, between you, me and the gatepost, isn't really as air headed and brain dead as I usually say she is, just to tease her …."

" So I guess that **opposites do attract** …." she concluded, her breath caught momentarily in her throat.

"Yeah….and **love and war do go hand in hand** , too." he completed, winking at her.

She unconsciously frowned at the information, despite the fact that there was no trace of surprise written on her features….She was not shocked about his confession, not shocked at all, not after some very tender gestures she had witnessed between them over the years….And the way in which he always spoke about her whenever he wasn't in his **torment the Love Goddess mood** ….one should have been blind not to notice….

"I would have never guessed that Aphrodite is your type…. ." she mordantly remarked, her torn soul aching to make him feel bad about something…anything….

" Maybe you don't know me as good as you think you do…." he retorted, silently wondering if it really hurt her to know that his heart had belonged other women as well, or he was only misinterpreting her reactions….

" And the other one?" she questioned, already suspecting what his answer would be.

"The other one….? The other one was a fierce warrior that could bring death and destruction wherever she went, with one single touch, but at the same time and with that same touch, she could awaken in me an inextinguishable fire to shame the flames of Tartarus itself….She was breathtaking...a spectacular, fascinating beauty that possessed an incredible amount of energy flowing and flowing through her body, like continuous summer rain…." he uttered with such unrestrained passion, that Xena couldn't have ignored that wave of sensations vibrating through her body, not even if she had wanted it to.

And just when she was about to finally allow a smile conquer her blood red lips, he added:

" Her name was Penthesilea…"

The Warrior Princess' jaw instantly dropped at that totally unexpected name escaping his treacherous lips…She had genuinely expected to hear hers.

"The Amazon Queen?"

"Yeah….I almost killed Artemis for her….And Zeus almost kicked me out of Olympus for my recklessness, but that's another story…."

Needless to say that his words felt like a knife to the heart. Xena was speechless. She wasn't even on his list….

Seeing her puzzled gaze, Ares naturally believed that she was actually intrigued about his reasons to kill Artemis, so he obviously rushed to clarify that for her.

" …She was supposed to be virgin for the rest of her life…That stupid chastity law, you know….Needless to say, I had to change that, Artemis didn't approve, the rest is quite obvious…."

Despite her usually flawless self control, Xena just couldn't help it. The look that crossed her face was one of utter, distinct anguish. And as good an actress as she was, this time, she just couldn't come up fast enough with a mask of iciness meant to convince him that she couldn't care less about his past relationships….

"Satisfied?"

Seconds later, she realized that she had missed his question.

"Excuse me?"

" Are you satisfied...with the answer? Is there anything else you want to know about the subject?"

" That would do, actually. ", she said, her fingers briefly caressing the edge of the soft blanket under her.

"Perfect" he simply stated while he picked two cards from his considerably thicker deck.

"Two fives"

"Another two" she said, barely finding her voice.

"A six"

"Two sixes"

"A seven "

"Two sevens"

" Tsk, tsk tsk! I don't think so…."he replied with immature satisfaction, turning her cards face up.

Xena took in a deep breath of air. If she failed to guess where the coin was, she could already tell what he wanted to know…..

"Come on Xe" , he said, placing his hands behind his back, to finally settle on the right hand to keep the coin. " Where is it? " he grimly inquired, anxiously extending his hands towards her.

Aware of the fact that her triumph was but a matter of luck, she didn't give her choice much thought.

"Left " she whispered, pointing to his closed fist.

He just smirked ironically while opening up his right hand.

" Sorry…."

A few seconds- during which their gazes clashed mercilessly, and during which Xena contemplated seriously the possibility of simply quitting the game- passed by them in slow motion. She already hated him for his unbearable determination to get all truth out of her , even before the God had addressed the question…

"So….do tell me all about this intriguing story of you leaving me because you were scared….Scared of **what?** " he harshly asked, still taken aback by her answer….

By the time he ended his question, Xena's blood was boiling…After having cruelly confessed that in his long eternal life he had been in love with two women- a rather short list on which her name had not been written- he also wanted to humiliate her by making her admit something that she would have preferred to keep locked inside her screwed up brain until the end of time, without ever being forced to say it out loud, without even thinking at it again, if possible….

" Is it **that **awful** ?** Come on….don't leave me hanging….I'm dying to find out what freaked you to the extent of making you want to leave everything behind and…take off, just like that, without glancing behind once…."

She tried to come up with a decent answer, one that wouldn't put her in such a bad light, but no bright idea rushed to her mind to save her.

"I don't know…." she murmured, on a barely audible note, unconsciously wringing her hands in distress.

The following events happened so fast that Xena barely got the chance to process the details. In the blink of an eye, she could see a blinding light falling from the sky at dazzling speed, aiming for her chest. She definitely didn't have the time to duck, she just froze in place, eyes pinned at the sky. At the moment of the impact, she mechanically closed her eyes shut, and when nothing happened and they finally fluttered open, to her great surprise, she gazed in amazement at the energy shield that was still absorbing that arctic blue lightening bolt, throwing bright sparkles all around them.

It didn't take her long to realize that Ares had been the one to cast the protection shield over her.

" That wasn't very smart given that just an hour ago you have been warned about the same thing…So, maybe you would like to rephrase that answer…."

Although she didn't like the perspective, she kinda owed him….He did save her life, after all…..

" I didn't want to disappoint you….."she articulated mournfully, hoping he didn't hear her.

He did hear her though and he was stunned. That was definitely an answer he wasn't expecting.

"To **disappoint** me? What are you talking about? Xena ….before you left, you had conquered half of Greece in my name, and the other half was weeks away from falling…..How in the world could you have disappointed me?"

She shivered at the mere memory of her past deeds….She wasn't very keen on reliving that dark period of her life, no…

" It wasn't that…." she replied, biting her lip, still reluctant about admitting the truth….

"What was it then, cause I'd sure like to understand…." he reproachfully responded, while already getting ready to project another energy shield, just in case.

"You changed…"

He just gazed at her inquisitively, not having the slightest clue what she was talking about.

" Your attitude towards me had changed…" she added, trying to shed some light on her statement.

" Of course it had! I was your number one fan, you were my most prized warrior, you were my star employee …."

" That's right….I was your warrior….A tool through which you could get what you wanted….." she flew at him.

"I have never seen you that way and you know it!" he growled, insulted by the fact that she had actually dared imply it..

" Still…you were not the same anymore….You always talk about the fire burning in my eyes, Ares….Well, somewhere along the road you seemed to have lost yours….There were no more sparkles in your eyes when you were looking at me….You were way too captivated by the killing machine I had turned myself into to still see me under that impenetrable amour….."

"You're wrong.." he said, lowering his gaze.

" No I'm not…..What Hercules saw that night, was the woman in me….He saw the monster I had become, but he also saw the human being hiding under that heavy burden you placed on my shoulders….It could have been anyone else in his place, that's how vulnerable I was when I left you, Ares….He just happened to be at the right place at the right time…"

" The Bastard!" the God growled with such repugnance in his voice that Xena was sure that if Hercules had been there that very moment, the God would have smashed his head against a rock.

"One eight…" Xena started trying to change the subject.

"A, a, a! My turn, Princess….Plus, we're not done talking…"

"Yes we are." she decisively let him know, tired about debating on the subject.

" Come on, play fair….I've answered all your questions, just now….You could at least do the same for me…Why didn't you say anything back then? I didn't have the slightest clue that you felt that way, Xena…We could have prevented all that drama….We could have talked…"

"You aren't the easiest person to talk to, are you? "

"I **cared** about you…" he blew, with a painful effort, and even in the ears of the most stupid person alive that **cared **would have meant **loved.**

" No. You **cared…**" she pungently emphasized" … about the power I could bring you, Ares! I was steps away from crowning you King of Olympus! "

"I** freaking LOVED** you! You were just to power crazed to tell apart the forest from the trees! " he yelled this time, as though he had been stabbed.

"**I **was power crazed? Come on , Ares! We were hardly speaking to each other about anything else that wasn't war planning, strategy, supplies and weapons!" she bit back, her eyes hard, feverish and piercing, not really sure if she had heard him say the **L** word or if she had just imagined it.

He didn't answer this time. He just swallowed dryly and fought to ignore the anguish clutching at his heart.

Maybe he knew how right she was….

"I made the right choice that day, whether you're willing to admit it or not! It was just a matter of time until…." her voice trailed off. She couldn't say it out loud. She couldn't bear hearing it.

"Until what?"

"Never mind. Let's just leave it to that…Come on, it's your turn. " she said, pointing towards the cards.

"Xena…" he pitilessly persisted.

" Please…" she replied, the following second.

" Fine. An eight" he absently stated, complying to her request and letting a card drop face down from his hand, but still debating whether to insist on continuing their little chat or not.

"Three eights" she added, her own mind still trapped in the blurry cobweb of memories of those past events.

" One nine" he continued.

"Three nines.

"Another one"

"Two tens" she announced, her pack growing thinner and thinner.

"You're bluffing " he roughly accused, without really having the slightest clue why he had said that in the first place, given the fact that he hadn't paid any attention to her features, so there was no real reason to suspect her of anything. He just followed his guts…One again, he was right. And once again, Xena failed to guess where the coin was.

" Would it hurt you to see me with someone else?"

"I haven't really thought about it. "she stammered.

"Well **think **about it"

"Why would you even ask that?"

"Just wanted to know…If I still matter to you…"

"No you don't….Not the way you'd want me to, anyway… "

"I don't believe you" he contradicted, despite the sheer determination in her voice.

"You can believe anything you want. No lightening bolt this time, Ares" she remarked , looking insolently up at the sky.

He cast a skeptic glance in the same direction.

"Your kiss earlier told me something else. " , he obstinately insisted, refusing to accept that she had no feelings for him.

"Oh yeah? What exactly did it tell you? That there's chemistry between us? That I'm attracted to you? You do look the way you look, Ares . Any woman in her righteous mind would feel the same way . That doesn't mean I'm in love with you, though. " she answered with flashing eyes.

"A ten" he abruptly broke their confrontation, fury engraved on every inch of his godly visage.

" Two tens….Does the truth hurt?"

"Another one. No. Not as hard as it will hurt you…"

She stood silent for awhile, apparently contemplating her cards while in fact she was struggling to decode the hidden meaning of his words.

"A king" she lowly announced , physically feeling both his sadness and his anger slapping her across the face. No matter what they did, they always ended up cutting out each other's hearts.

"A king it is!" he replied, throwing a card on top of hers.

"Two kings" she added.

"Three queens" he rushed, eager to get rid of the rest of his deck.

"Two knights" she announced.

"Two more"

" Is that so?" she questioned, turning his cards face up.

"Damn! " he cursed, brushing his hand through his hair "Let's see if I'm luckier than you!" he added with false enthusiasm, pointing towards the coin.

As enthusiastic as he wanted to appear tough, it was his turn to lose.

"You're good" he concluded. " If you ever get tired of playing the hero, do apply for a magician job, will ya? You'd be surprised with the results. " he joked, scrutinizing her with eager curiosity, wondering what would she ask of him.

"I'll keep that in mind." she made sure to mention.

"So….what's the demeaning challenge that you have in store for me ? What do you want me to do? Wear a dress? Some lipstick, maybe? A bit of makeup?"

"Don't temp me…" she sternly warned, not at all bemused by his ridiculously funny suggestion. There was a short pause during which an invisible, but absolutely merciless battle was given between her need to know more about the Amazon Queen and her boundless pride...To ask or not to ask...that was the question...

The ego lost…

"You said that I was your first Chosen…."

"You still are. You're not dead yet Sweetheart."

"How come you didn't choose Penthesilea for the job? If at least half of the legends are true, she was indeed an amazing warrior. "

"Amazing is not quite the word to describe her. She was unbeatable….Like no mortal or Goddess I've ever seen…."

His remark made her unwillingly grit her teeth. Her nerves were obviously more and more strained….Hearing him imply that her performances weren't as half as good as the Amazon Queen's made her literally wanna bite a chunk out of him. She definitely hated him for it…

" So..what was it that held you back, again?"

"Sadly, she was already Artemis' Chosen. But that wasn't such a tragedy, for the mere fact that she was unreachable, made me want her even more…"

As soon as his words dissolved into thin air, along with the unshed tears shining on the surface of the Warrior Princess' moons, Ares also noticed the fact that she was holding no more cards….She had won the round.

Ironically enough, Xena didn't feel like a winner, quite the contrary…


	4. There's an answer to everything

**To all reviewers out there and to all my readers, thank you for pushing me to write more **

"_Three hours left…and one single mistake left to lose it all…" _Xena said to herself, contemplating once again the new card selection she was holding. If the Fates had courteously smiled on her during the last round, they didn't seem to be as generous now…

Sunk in thought as she was, she involuntarily cleared her throat, a gesture the meaning of which was quickly interpreted by the mischievous War God like a shouting sign of discontent.

"Panicking already, Princess?" his subtly satiric voice sliced the deep silence of the night like the finest of blades.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she boldly retorted, the fakest smile in human history playing on her gorgeous lips, too busy with rearranging her cards to pay too much attention to what he was saying. "As much as I hate disappointing you,** no**….But you can keep dreaming about it if it pleases you…."

" No need to, Darling. As I take it, I'm already living the dream, and you're already praying for a way out of the mess those cards got you in…." he laughed, aware of the fact that luck was on his side. "Plus, there would be a number of various other interesting ways in which **you** could please me…"

" That only means that I'll have to lie to perfection…" she emphasized, apparently not at all touched by the malice hidden behind his patronizing comment.

"Actually I'd rather say that means you'll have to distract my attention whenever you feel like lying." he corrected, taking a mental note on just how upset she still was about the whole Penthesilea thing- a rampaging success that he hadn't accurately predicted.

"Like you always know when I'm lying to you…" she bit, irritated by his sick nerve to think that he was better than her when it came to the art of prefabricating truths.

" The score says I do…"

"The score has not yet been decided."

" An unfortunate situation that I do believe will change after this very round…." he arrogantly remarked, flashing a toothy grin at her.

" Clinging to hope **is** necessary for the morale, at times…At least that's what you taught me."

"I must agree with my own theory, Sweetheart. "

"I'm not your Sweetheart." she barked, throwing three cards face down. "Three Aces"

" One more"

" A two " she challenged.

" And another one"

"Two more"

"Two threes" he added, already scanning his cards for a four.

"One three"

" This is what I was talking about, see?" he mockingly questioned, turning her card face up to revel a five. " You really need to improve those skills, Hun. If it were your life we'd be gambling, you'd be keeping Hades company in Tartarus by now….Not that I'd mind too much paying you conjugal visits on his realm, but, you know… after a month or so, I'm afraid you'd kill for a change of scenery…My uncle isn't really famous for his taste in interior decoration …."

She simply made a face at him while picking all the cards from the grass.

"So….you didn't mention the new rules?" she absently stated while casting a long glance at his disturbingly thinner deck.

He paused a bit before answering her.

"What new rules? I thought you said you weren't the biggest fan of this game's constant novelty …" he replied, raising a puzzled eyebrow at her somewhat awkward interrogation. "I do have something in mind though if you want me to …."

" Actually, can I come up with a proposal?" she cut in.

" Why my Dear, you are certainly a very peculiar woman! " he exclaimed with a considerable amount of surprise in his voice. " ….By all means, please do. I'm all ears, too….well, not **all** ears, but…go on…"

" Let's go for challenges during this round….And we can leave the truth for the next one…."

He couldn't help laughing at her suggestion.

"Are you telling me that you honestly believe there will be another round? Did I get the message right?"

"Laugh all you want, but facts speak for themselves. You've already lost the last round….why not this one?" she stung, her blue eyes carefully studying his features.

" Fine….Challenge mode is on then….**But,** there's a catch….No matter how many cards we'll be still holding, the one who loses twice, also loses the round." he added, narrowing his eyes while searching his mind for things that he really wanted to see her do.

"Don't tell me you're lacking imagination.." she mocked, eagerly trying to anticipate his intentions- making no kind of comments about the rule.

"Not at all….What I want you to do, is to recall the first memory you have of me….." he commanded, rising to his feet and walking towards her. Soon, he was seated by her side, on the blanket, inches away from her, rudely- but necessarily- invading her personal space.

She instinctively pulled back a bit, as if he were taking away all her air….Her muscles instantly tensed though at that unique sensation of his licentious gaze traveling up and down her breasts, virtually fondling them, kissing them…She could literally feel the intensity of his desire burning her skin like fire, and no matter how much as she fought to control the response of her body to that absolutely electrifying nearness, she found her cheekbones flush from the arousal taking over her system, like an unstoppable storm.

She hated herself for it one second later, cursing both fate and reality at the same time, when she remembered that she was actually supposed to hate him with a passion.… Instead, his lust had wrapped her around like an invisible chain, keeping her in place while he continued scanning her every curve just to return to her eyes from time to time, his own gaze filled with an even more insatiable hunger, a gaze that she found harder and harder to resist. To top it all, despite the fact that from the moment he had decided to join her on the blanket, except for staring at her like a hawk he didn't make any other move, she –on the other hand- had unconsciously leaned forward, completely ignoring her original intention of moving back….He was simply mesmerizing.

A short, sarcastic laugh escaped him as she finally left out a startled breath the moment she suddenly realized what she had been doing, and just how close to him she had gotten, their lips almost brushing.

"No need to feel bad about it….Ladies say I'm like a magnet…." he bragged, gently touching her lips with the tips of his fingers, a rather affectionate gesture that ended as abruptly as it had started, with her pushing his hand aside- in quite a spiteful manner too, one might say-.

" You were telling me something about that memory…." he kindly reminded her, aware of the fact that by then, she had forgotten all about the challenge.

She frowned a bit, obviously struggling to remember that accursed second when their eyes met for the very first time, and she was ready to start telling the story when he swiftly put an end to her novelistic intentions.

"Not like this…." he said, once again pressing his fingers to her lips. "Not like this….I want to see it, the same way you did."

She just cast him a puzzled glare, clueless about what exactly was it that he wanted.

"Close your eyes." he ordered, smirking at the incredibly smart idea that had just crossed his mind.

She didn't reply, but her perfectly arched eyebrows suddenly expressed besides confusion, hesitation and mistrust, utter revolt and maybe a bit of bemusement at the content of his line. Her answer was consequently replaced by putting some more distance between them, a few, very useful inches, that the barrier formed from the knees that were now tightly pulled to her chest, made them impossible to eliminate.

" I'm not gonna bite I promise…."

"You and your promises" she muttered her discontent, giving him a scornful once- over.

"Don't be mean. You know I always keep my promises, just like you do. Now come on, be a good girl and close your eyes, will ya'?"

With a heavy sigh, she finally complied, thinking just how much she hated his little mind games.

"Now…." he said, placing the tip of his fingers on her forehead. "….Show me what I want to see…"

**XXX**

Her eyes squeezed even tighter while her brain struggled to reactivate a rather fading memory….The one of their first encounter, at Lyceus' tomb, right after her brother's tragic death…..For some awkward reason though, she was unable to access those rather traumatizing images, and instead, in spite of her own will, something unusual happened. An endless string of images began flowing and flowing before her, strangely surrounding her very being, pulling her into their ravel until they became one….Just like in a dream, she was part of the action and at the same time she wasn't….She was a mere spectator and simultaneously the main character of a vaguely familiar play….

_In what proved to be a quite unusual version of reality, she woke up with a startle. She was under the covers and she had dreamt about something…about someone…Looking down at her hands, she realized that her body was not the same any more. She had changed. ….she was younger…way younger, and obviously way more vulnerable to nightly illusions than her mature self actually was. _

_Even with her eyes wide open now, she could still see him…The same tall, handsome, extremely imposing man - like no one she had ever seen before in their little village- with dark, liquid moons that could pierce through her like spears…._

_**Whenever she fell asleep, it was always the same dream….She was wearing a long, black, velvet dress, and she appeared to be in her early twenties. She was all alone in front of a high, marble temple, under a quite turbulent sky, holding an amazingly heavy sword, training for some battle…**_

_**With perfectly executed, rhythmic movements, she would slice the air for what felt like hours, when right out of nowhere, she would suddenly become aware of it: an overwhelming presence, that she could distinctly identify in each and every bone of her body, filling her like wine would fill an empty crystal cup, giving her life meaning, offering her new reasons to live, silently alluring her with unspoken but enticing promises of unlimited knowledge and power, offering her not only a chance to a new life , but also to the ever so attractive alternative of shaping the clay of reality….**_

_**In her dream, her eyes would always close before he showed up, to only open when she would feel two strong arms wrapped tightly around her waist…**_

"_**I love you, Xena…..You're the only for me, you know that. I've been waiting for you since the beginning of time….You belong to me, now and forever…." his venomous voice would whisper in her ear, sweet poisoned words that were for her heart like air was to her lungs….His hands would then glide along her stomach, and further up between her breasts straight to her neck where his fingers would finally stop, gripping viciously her throat, without actually choking her- a pleasant, addictive pain that she knew she couldn't live without….**_

_**Whenever his hand would release her throat, his touch would always leave behind a heavy silver shackle, and the sword in her hand would vanish only to be replaced by a gorgeous black rose from which drops of blood would trail slowly down to the ground. **_

"_**You're mine…." **_

_As so many times in the past, the burning touch of his lips had woken her up with a jolt, causing her entire world to fall apart when she realized that she was once again in her mother's humble tavern in Amphipolis, just one store above that stinking place that she hated with a passion- full of drunk people, lecherous glances and squalor. _

_That morning appeared to be no different. Apart of the fact that she was turning ten that day, everything in her life was exactly the same…..She stretched lazily while heading towards the window. There was no light at the horizon yet, just a fine ribbon of a somewhat clearer sky- which she knew it would soon turn peach.-…Nonetheless, the still invisible, puffy clouds were about to get splashed in bright, mesmerizing colors that were bound to merge into a river of cascading light as the earliest sun rays would come claiming the celestial vault…._

_With slow, ghost like steps, little Xena headed towards the window sill…. The morning air was fresh and invigorating, a nice, clean scent of lavender and wildflowers invading her nostrils, a wonderful perfume that she could recognize and associate to home on any part of the planet she might have been. _

_As relaxed as she was though, she instantly flinched when, wanting to rest her elbows on the wooden window shelf, she felt something that wasn't supposed to be there …. Something smooth…something that had the rare texture of fine, oriental silk…. She immediately looked down and the blood froze inside her veins…..It was a black rose._

_As soon as her fingertips touched one of the petals- probably to make sure that she wasn't still dreaming- all her senses went wild the moment she detected that unmistakable, spicy musk fragrance, mixing up and eventually covering the one of the wild flowers outside._

_She gasped loudly when in addition to that, she felt his bewitching, dark energy literally crushing her form. Just like in her dream, she didn't turn around to see him….She didn't flinch a muscle , but she knew he was there and she was well aware of what was about to happen…._

_As time slowly flew by, a light, gentle breeze caressed her long, raven hair, sending shivers down her spine, her tiny body trembling in anticipation, waiting for his touch, her heart beating to the point of jumping out of his chest. It didn't take long until she could hear his heavy footsteps on the old, creaking floorboards, with the same distinct precision with which he was able to hear her uneven, anxious breath as he knelt behind her. _

_She unwillingly closed her eyes…His presence was indeed intoxicating, and when his arms wrapped protectively around her, pulling her effortlessly towards his chest, she could feel something inside her explode. She felt…__**.complete**__, whatever completion was._

_Her entire form trembled at the contact. It was an unearthly sensation, impossible to describe for a ten year old, as if her soul had been missing all that time- without her even realizing it- and now that she finally had one, she could finally understand the pain in which she had lived all those years because of its absence. _

"_Who am I? " he murmured lowly against her ear, a voice that she instantly classified as being animalistically seductive and deep despite of the fact that she wasn't quite sure what seductive meant.. _

_She didn't dare turn her head to look at him. Plus, she was way too focused on that continuous rain of sparkles falling down her creamy skin and on those several hundred butterflies hitting like crazy against the walls of her stomach, to even think about something else._

" _You're the man from my dreams….." she responded, barely above a whisper. _

"_Who am I?" he repeated, and she couldn't help thinking that his demonically sweet voice sounded like the memory of a faraway song from another world. _

" _Ares….God of War…" she murmured, her eyes opening in shock at what she had just said. What in the world had possessed her to say that out loud? After all, she didn't have the slightest clue who the man haunting her dreams was….._

"_And who are you?"_

_She parted her lips to reply, but she was hesitant in offering an answer. She couldn't really tell what he had expected her to say_

"_My name is Xena…" she stammered, wondering what could have been the purpose of such question. He clearly knew who she was if he was there…_

_There was a short, incredibly intense pause in which she unconsciously nudged herself closer to him, and during which his iron like fingers clasped around her fragile little neck, keeping her bound to him like a slave. An impossible to refuse possession…._

"_Who are you…?"_

_His voice was even softer than before, smoother indeed, but having a hint of cutting steel in it. This time though, to her immeasurable surprise, she could clearly feel his lips brushing against the tip of her ear, as his free hand pushed her long tresses behind it. _

_Fascinated by his magnetizing touch, she articulated the following words without thinking twice about what she was saying and about the reason behind such line. Gods knew she had no idea what they meant, but somehow , they made sense, as if she had uttered a truth that had been hidden deep inside her mind from the very moment of her birth. _

"_Your Chosen" _

"…_My Princess…" he completed and his voice now echoed murderously loud inside her head, making her gasp loudly at the unexpected title he had so generously granted her. All trace of hesitation was viciously annihilated when her hand covered his, squeezing lightly his fingers with her own. _

_Before giving his words the needed time to sink in, he gently twisted her into his arms, and, when she finally faced him, the entire universe came crumbling down her head, as a choking sensation of déjà vu washed over her, causing her to bite her lips hard…He was breathtaking…._

"_Have we met….before?"_

"_Apart from your dreams?" he inquired, slowly tilting her chin up with his index._

_She nodded, her cheeks instantly flushing red at that very intimate contact._

_He just shook his head at her incorrect presumption. _

"_Are you sure?" she insisted, casting him a puzzled glance._

_A courteous smile appeared on his perfect visage as he cocked his head slightly to the side, his dark amber eyes now glued to her tantalizing, coral red lips…_

"_The moment I leave this place, you will forget everything about having met me, do you understand? Your every memory of me will vanish as if it had never existed, and you are not to utter my name until the day the Fates have ordained you to do so.."_

_In some sort of response, her tiny palms caressed his face, as if wanting to check if he was real and if he wasn't only a figment of her wild, puerile imagination._

"_I don't want to forget you…." she broke, despair in her eyes._

"_You have to…..There's a time for everything, and you're still too young to join me." he apologetically whispered, without breaking their gaze. _

"_But how will I know who you are if I forget you?" she questioned, visible disappointment darkening the limpid surface of her azure moons._

"_How did you know who I was, just now?"_

"_I didn't…..I just felt it…."_

"_See? There's an answer to everything…."he said, briefly touching her lips with his own in a tender, innocent kiss…_

"_Why do you have to leave?"_

"_I shouldn't have come in the first place…But you called me….Let's say I couldn't resist the longing in your voice…."_

**XXX**

The Warrior Princess's eyes fluttered open, her entire body traumatized by the distinct impression that she was drowning, only to discover Ares standing right there in front of her, a discreet smile playing on his lips.

"Was that real?! Did that really happen? " she exclaimed, searching his eyes for an answer.

"You tell me. Did it feel real?"

"Cut the crap and answer me!"

"I'm afraid you're playing the wrong game. You'll have to wait for the next round for that…." the God teased, smirking at that obvious mixture of frustration and anger washing over her. He was damn good when it came to getting on her nerves.

By the time she finally found a right reply for him, he was already shuffling the cards, cunningly robbing her the chance of a sarcastic comeback by throwing part of the deck at her feet and thus efficiently diverting her attention from whatever had happened before.

" Be a dear and don't go losing this time too, ok? I'd be delighted to have some real competition for once" he remarked, and as funny as his line was supposed to be, the Warrior Princess could distinctly perceive the warning hidden behind those words.

She cleared her throat before taking the cards. She was nervous.

"Three fours Baby, just for you!"

She rolled her eyes of course, at the energy he had put in that exclamation. She couldn't help thinking just how much satisfaction smacking him a couple of times, could bring her.

" Always so generous. A four. " she replied, her brain still strongly connected to those unbelievably real images that had unfolded throughout her chaotic mind just before.

"A five. "

"Three fives…"she announced, her blue eyes glittering an impatience that she was forcing to keep under control.

"A six." he casually responded, glancing imperceptibly at her visibly more relaxed body. She had obviously managed to lock away-at least for awhile- that tsunami of feelings that the memory of their first encounter had generated inside her heart.

"Two sixes"

"And another one."

"Two sevens" he changed, looking immediately up at her, hoping to notice something out of the ordinary on her perfectly serene visage, and despite of the fact that nothing appeared to betray her confidence, his sixth sense told him otherwise.

"Two sevens" she voiced, fierce determination and honesty reverberation from her every gesture.

"You're bluffing" he called, taking his chances…

Sadly, this time he was wrong, for she had spoken the truth and the two fours shining under the moonlight were all the proof she needed in order to give him a challenge to make his ego crumble like a sandcastle, at her feet.

"**Some real competition** was it you said, again?" she emphasized, rubbing his nose into it.

He laughed lightly at her childish grudge while adding the already played cards to his deck.

" Something along that line, yeah. So….are you going to punish me or what?" he sexily inquired, watching her gazing musingly towards the dying fire. Once again, a snap of his fingers was enough for the flames to triple in power and size.

Her face twisted in disgust at his sheer arrogance. He was one cocky specimen, that was for sure….

" I want you to show me all the women you've fucked while we were still together" she demanded, adamant about deleting from her mind all those hard to cope with images he had cleverly showed her just before- and which could either have a grain of truth in them or, which, on the contrary could be nothing but lies- a bitter decision that she was sure she would come to regret afterwards, but one that she felt like she needed to take if she wanted to save her soul from falling into that deep abyss of delusions he had created especially for her.

"Still interested in the subject? I must say Xena, I'm flattered…**.Stunned**, but flattered. I wouldn't have suspected- not in a million years- that the mere mention of two of my past flames would generate such a powerful tornado of jealousy in you as to want to know everything there is to know about my sex life…." he cuttingly retorted, his eyes flashing with satisfaction at what he had managed to accomplish, without even putting too much effort into it.

" If all your cheap talk was meant to make me change my mind, I proudly inform you that it didn't work. "

"It **wasn't.** " he made sure to highlight, staring back with a look to rival her stubborn determination to free her heart from his invisible chains. " Just wanted to spare you the unnecessary pain those images might cause…Mortals are quite **sensitive** when it comes to betrayal…."

" Yeah well…betrayal is a** sensitive** subject…As far as I know, it touches mortals and **Gods** alike…." she detachedly answered back, acting as if his previous line hadn't felt like an arrow to the heart.

" …But the way we react to it is quite different though…" , he replied, obviously wanting to underline that it was easier for an immortal to move on after such an unhappy event than it was for the rest of the dying world.

She just smirked at his useless attempts to avoid showing her what she had requested to see.

In response, she just made herself a bit more comfortable, leaning back upon her elbows and throwing her head back while patiently waiting for him to comply.

"Fine….if you insist" he said, waving his hand to open up a portal.

Her body instantly tensed at the images that followed.

_They were at some party, and glancing around , she quickly remembered that it was one of Aphrodite's silly, lavishing banquets during which, besides a lot of drinking, the guests were also supposed to fuck wild. _

_Dead beat after an exhausting campaign in the west of Greece, and after a long, endless day of quarreling with her Generals, a stupid party was the last thing that the Warrior Princess had been planning to attend, but to her boundless exasperation, the bored War God had refused to shut up about it until she agreed to join him…..so there she was, glaring around the room, visible revulsion painted on her otherwise unimpressed face. She simply hated orgies and everything associated to the idea. _

_It didn't take long until, completely fascinated by the naked dancers, the stimulating melodies playing on the background, and all in all by the fiery atmosphere, the War God began drinking cup after cup of spicy, Bacchic, mind clouding wine….Soon, he was paying more attention to his Sister's gorgeous priestesses than he was paying to his precious protégée. In spite of his utter nonchalance though, he felt like it was the perfect moment to snap, when, wanting to serve himself another cup of sweet tasting liquid, Xena tried to stop him. To make a long story short, he ended up pushing her brutally back on the sofa, to her immeasurable revolt. _

_Next thing he knew, he was throwing the cup at her while she was furiously rushing towards the door, cursing his name and the day the Fates had decided that they should meet. _

…_By the time she left the temple, Ares was already licking some other brunette's nipples, passionately tearing off the golden bikini she was wearing, making sure to bathe her in wine before he finally plunged his cock deep inside her, fucking her hard on the table, not caring less about the fact that his unusual savagery had made a circle of curious eyes form around the passionate couple…_

_Seven hours later, at sunrise, he was still fast asleep, sharing the Love Goddess' comfy couch with another three lucky women that had had the privilege of enjoying the War God's legendary shaft. _

"An innocent mistake…" he muttered once the portal closed, gazing guiltily in the direction of the fire.

"Innocent indeed…." she ironically retorted, in a hushed, whispered voice.

" What do you want me to say, Xena? I'm no saint….I did things I wish I hadn't done….But that was a time error…It happened once, that's all…..Now if you really want to turn that into a reason to get me out of your heart, that's your call…"

"You stopped being in my heart a long time ago…." she hissed, but the previous concern painted on his face only morphed into a sly, vicious smile.

" If you say so…. "

"An eight" she broke his ranting, silently reminding herself that she really needed to win that round or it was game over, and all her efforts would have been in vain- casting aside all thoughts about twisting his arm to reveal some more mishaps.

" An eight" he replied with a frown.

" Two more"

"A nine"

"Two nines." she said, mentally congratulating herself for the perfectly told lie that he had failed to notice.

" One more…"

"A ten. "

"A ten " he continued, briefly scanning his cards.

"You're bluffing…" she remarked in a cold voice, praying to all living Gods that she wasn't wrong.

"Are you sure?" he grimly questioned, his gaze turning suddenly harsher, and she couldn't have ignored that weird sensation of her bones filling with ice not even if she had wanted it to.

She refused to play his mind game though. She just flipped the last card over and her heart finally began beating normally again the instant she saw that she had won.

"Yeah, you can breathe now…" he pungently observed, noticing that her chest had stopped rising and falling during the last thirty seconds or so." You can also sing something to celebrate your little victory…" he continued, accent thick and tone terse.

" Why don't **you **sing something, if you're such a loyal fan of artistic expression?" she retorted, finally throwing the rest of her cards between them. There was no reason for her to hold them any longer, anyway.

He just cast her a puzzled glance for a couple of moments, while probably weighing the chances he had of avoiding such demeaning task.

" I'm not really the musical type….I do lack a musical ear, you know….So I'd rather leave that to you..."

"That's too bad, cause you're gonna sing anyway…" she insisted, excited that she had finally found something to really embarrass him with. "I do suggest a song to mach the romantic nature in you…" she mocked, her eyes sparkling with mischief, while her hand patted him –in false compassion- on the shoulder.

"O…k…." the God answered, gazing pensively towards the sky, as if looking for inspiration- an expression of utter disbelief to the fact that he had just lost the round, still present on his statuesque features.

Soon, surpassing all expectations- and definitely before Xena got the chance to make some more fun at him- on a voice as soft as the night breeze, Ares began singing the lyrics of a song that made the Warrior Princess gasp in surprise...It was the same song that she had sung at her brother's burial…and at every burial afterwards- the Amazon song of the dead…

_**Awe awe nassry ale khan **_

_**Todo noraban amay noooooo…**_

_**Nooooo awe awena sri ale khan,**_

_**Todo noraban a my**_ _**no.**_

_**Rabia e nomia veretan - khade e khade na mayn…**_

…..A surprise that she uselessly tried to hide with a somewhat hysterical laughter and a very uncalled for line, the moment the God ended the last note….

"Who died?" she questioned, struggling to keep a mocking grin on her lips.

He didn't answer….Instead, he kept looking into the flames…That sure beat looking into her ice cold eyes.

Seconds later, an inaudible sigh escaped the War God's lips…he shouldn't have allowed things to get out of his hands like that…Instead of winning her heart back like he had initially intended, he only managed to push her further away from him….His plan of having her love him again, was screaming failure.


	5. Fog

********I'm back guys! ********

"This time, you are to do the heavy work…" the War God finally concluded, throwing her the rest of the deck, adamant about putting an end already to that humiliating moment she had forced him to go through….Singing was definitely not one of his strong points-or so he believed- and the acid in her voice only managed to make him feel even more lame than he already did.

"Gladly" she answered in a neutral tone, the triumphant smile on her lips reminding him pretty well though who was the loser and who was the winner of that round. "Here you go." she added a minute later, placing a couple of cards, face down in front of him.

He picked them all up, not really impressed with the surprisingly good hand he was holding. Her indifference and animosity had successfully ruined his good humor way too much to allow himself to feel any kind of satisfaction in such silly thing, any more….

Xena on the other hand, was roughly fighting the urge to vocally curse her bad luck while staring in disappointment at the alarmingly low cards Fortuna had mockingly sent her.

" You don't look too happy" the God finally remarked, a combination of sympathy and confusion flitting through his eyes.

"Neither do you…. " she cuttingly observed, wondering why in the world he wasn't pleased with the fact that he was in a considerably more favorable position than she was.

He tried to smirk at her silent, questioning glance, but he failed. A look of crushing disillusion came to take its place instead, and despite herself, the Warrior Princess couldn't help thinking that she hated seeing him like that.

" So….truth telling time, huh?" she inquired, wanting to animate the atmosphere a bit.

Just like an upset, stubborn little boy, Ares kept arranging his cards, rudely ignoring her , an obvious pout indirectly letting the universe know just how low spirited her behavior had gotten him.

" …How many questions do we have to answer, again?" she pushed, a drop of regret washing over her heart.

" Three…" he absently replied this time, but somehow, he couldn't resist looking at her, and when his gaze met hers, that lightening fast connection that was always present whenever they were face to face, overwhelmed his senses, making him feel even worse than before…He immediately blinked and looked away, feigning to be more preoccupied with selecting his cards than with any other temporary distraction.

Xena gulped uncomfortably, currently mad at her for having allowed herself to give him such power over her soul as to be able to make her feel guilty for having justly trampled over his stupid feelings …..The Bastard more than deserved whatever she had in store for him!

" An ace" she started, thoughtfully throwing the card face down.

Silence hung between them while he looked for the appropriate cards amongst the one he was holding.

"Two aces"

"And another one"

" A two "

" Three twos " he added, with a cynical smile, as if he knew that she had lied about that previous card. His amber brown eyes weren't smiling though.

" A three"

" Two more. "

She wrinkled her brow and took her time to analyze his serious figure, chewing at her bottom lip for a moment while mentally weighing the pros and cons of calling his bluff, almost certain that he had been lying….An invisible forced pushed the words back down her throat though….She was still hanging by a thread…She couldn't afford any risks.

"Three fours"

Without a word, he turned the cards face up, and when he saw that the Fates had smiled down on him , he just popped the question, without waiting for her to absorb the shock.

"You always push me away…Always…you're always making up excuses to shut the doors of your heart in my face…Just how long do you think I'll keep chasing after you like a lunatic?"

His voice was hoarse and full of pain, and hearing him, Xena could feel her stomach drop like an archer's missing his target when his life depended on it.

It was a particularly steely reproach, the force of which was meant to physically slap her.

" I've never asked you to **chase **after me. It's not my fault that you have no better hobby than to follow me around like a sick puppy wherever I go! Plus….you can always find some other Penthesilea or Aphrodite to take care of your wants and needs " she barked, her heart sinking at the sound of her own comment.

As her line ended, Ares paused a bit, drilling her with his burning gaze, while seriously contemplating the possibility of cursing her name once and for all, and simply vanishing from her life…. forever.

"Could you live without me?"

Fighting a sliver of panic that she wished she hadn't felt, the Warrior Princess stood her ground.

" You're not irreplaceable, Ares. No one is…." she let him know, in a strangled enough voice to betray her true feelings.

"I didn't ask you if I was irreplaceable…"

" What do you want me to say? That I wouldn't want anything more than to free myself from you?!" she cut, her voice as loud as thunder.

The God's lips twitched, and his entire body ached at the contact with her poisonous words…..He stroked his furrowed brows, pressing hard at the temples in the vain attempt to make the hammering in his head stop for at least one blessed second.

" Do you mean that?" he asked, trying to look rather curious than absolutely devastated. To Xena's boundless surprise, he did…The mask that he was actually displaying, was one of utter indifference.

It took her all her strength to repress the impulse of throwing a savage **YES **in his face, just for the sake of seeing him crushed in pain- an amazing opportunity to get even for the whole Penthesilea and Aphrodite stunt he had pulled on her a few hours earlier.

" Is this one of the questions you wanted to ask me? " she said, trying to sound cocky, a devilish grin curling her mouth.

He quickly did the math. Indeed, he had one question left, and damn, it was not on the list…..

" Yes…." he decided, unaware of the fact that she had successfully managed to divert his attention from other important things that she was dead sure he was going to ask her about.

She let out a heavy sigh, before finally shrugging her shoulders. A murmur escaped her lips.

"Sometimes…"

He stared at her, transfixed for a couple of seconds….Was she for real?

" It hurts….being with you, it hurts…." she explained, glancing towards the flames. Somehow, their seductive dance had the ability to relax her, to disconnect her from that inner turmoil she was drowning in.

Ares flinched as something inside him broke. She was literally burning all the bridges for them to be together.

"And what exactly was it that I did, that was so terrible, huh? I wouldn't harm a hair on your head, and you know it, Xena….I'd never…."

Her bitter, ironic gaze stopped his ranting though. He rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what she had meant with that….

"….Attenuating circumstances, ok? ….…" he made sure to mention, subtly reminding her that **she **had been the one who had screwed things up on that occasion, in the first place….

Hercules….forever a dark shadow in their intricate past…

" I wasn't talking about physical violence , anyway" she stated, clenching her teeth at the wave of memories violently assaulting her. "With you it's a constant struggle, Ares…An endless fight with myself and with the darkness in you….."

"Come on Xena…It's not like I'm Dahok, for Zeus' sake….You're talking about me as if I were the worst monster on the face of the planet….." he firmly protested, casting her an accusing glare.

"You're worse…." she whispered in a trembling voice.

"I'm worse? Why? Because you have no feelings for Dahok? "

She didn't answer. Instead, she kept looking into the flames. Something inside her was screaming at her not to answer that…..

"That's a pretty interesting line of thought….." he filled in the blanks for her.

"Three fives" she said, completely ignoring his observation. She had said more than enough, anyway.

" Another one" he replied, wondering what on earth could he do to throw her off balance and force her to leave that mask aside…She was driving him crazy with her coldness…

" Two sixes"

"Two more" he continued, playing his game to perfection.

"A seven"

"A sevens it is"….

"You're bluffing…." she accused, leaning forward to check his cards, sensing his falseness. She was right…..It was her turn to torment him, and she was quite anxious to make him confess a couple of things, too….

" So, do tell me….That sequence I saw from my childhood…..was it true? " she asked, her stomach instantly tightening at the possibility, and despite her casual tone, on the inside, an insatiable curiosity to find out the truth was burning her guts.

He had to laugh at her cheap theatrality.

" Yes, it was. "

"And…why did you make me forget all about you being there?"

That was a detail she had failed to understand from the very beginning.

" I couldn't anticipate how the other Gods would react at the idea of me finally having a Chosen….For all that I knew, some of them could have jumped at the opportunity of getting even . Till this very day, I haven't been voted Mr. Popularity up on Olympus as you well know…..Plus, they were more than aware that by choosing a mortal to serve me, my powers will automatically amplify a thousand fold, and let me just say that they weren't thrilled about the perspective. To top it all, as you very accurately proved it, they had every reason in the universe to be worried about our little alliance…." he smirked, pride gleaming in his eyes like stardust.

Xena made a small sound of dissatisfaction at his comment , but she couldn't hide fast enough the same amount of pride illuminating her face. He had always known how to make her feel appreciated and despite the fact that she hated being reminded what an incredibly good killer she was, he had this natural ability to make her think highly of herself even when it came to this bloody department.

" I don't serve you…." she barked-just for the sake of saying something- partially irritated by the term he had used to describe their relationship.

" Fine…to **worship** me…." he corrected, with a chuckle.

She simply rolled his eyes at him, aware of the fact that such type of confrontation wasn't going anywhere….

"What?" he inquired, visibly amused by her reaction. "You** are **my Chosen. Chosens are supposed to **obey and serve.** Just because you're an **untamed harpy** doesn't make it any different."

Her cheeks flared up immediately and her eyes darkened with rage, and she was ready to spit another dose of venom from her lips-a lethal one this time- when, casting him a murderous gaze she noticed that unmistakable shade of joy he always felt when he was around her, and her heart melted at the sight…..He was right….she was a harpy….

" You should have tried harder to **tame **me…"

A broad smile caressed his perfect visage at the jocular note in her voice, and the Warrior Princess couldn't help herself from staring at his lips….everything about him felt tantalizingly sexy, dangerously dark and forbidden….The perfect combination…..She finally looked away when she realized that her treacherous body was vibrating again at the recent memory of his touch….She couldn't allow it….

"Why did you come, that morning? If you being there was such a tremendous threat, why did you show up? " she launched her third question, breaking their gaze, and trying to regain her composure.

He took a deep breath. Clearing his head after such fiery exchange was a must before offering her an answer….Somehow, when they talked, she always found a way to trick his brain into shutting down all activity that didn't involve studying her eyes and lips….-

"…..and don't tell me it was the longing in my voice that made the big , bad God of War listen to a little girl's plea….." she continued, before he got the chance to answer….

He just flashed her a puzzled look.

" You mean apart from the fact that you were ceaselessly calling my name in your sleep every night?" he questioned, as if that weren't reason enough.

" Yeah, apart from that…." she retorted, narrowing her eyes at him, refusing to believe such nonsense.

" You mortals really have no clue what so ever about what a relationship between a God and his Chosen means, do you? There's really no use in trying to explain it to you…."

" I wasn't your Chosen back then…."

"You were my Chosen since the beginning of time…..way before any of your ancestors got to see the light of day…..The fact that you accepted my offer was but a mere formality…..Things wouldn't have changed between us, no matter what, that is how strong our connection is….."

"That is how thick the chain around my neck is…." she mumbled, completely against the idea of being tied to someone to that extent.

" A **sacred **bound, unbreakable…."

"…by men or immortals alike…." she continued, disgusted by the phrase.

"Do you have** any** idea how much protection does that title alone grant you? "

She rolled her eyes in response at his comment.

"Of course you don't… You have never been able to appreciate …."

"…your endless generosity?" she mockingly asked, on an unbelievably smug tone.

" Everything that I was willing to offer you….."

"I'm not interested in what you have to offer…."

"You keep saying that, but I'm not really convinced about it…." he said with a sigh, wondering for the thousand time that night ,what in Tartarus was he still doing there, by her side. The woman was obviously an iceberg.

"Right….an eight ." she replied, swiftly deciding to abandon their little bantering.

" An eight it is." he complied, cursing himself for the terrible idea of fighting a lost battle.

"Two eights. "

"Another two. "

"A nine…"

"Stop arching your eyebrow when you lie…." he advised, turning her card up.

"I wasn't arching my eyebrow!" she protested, a bit surprised that he had caught her so quickly.

" Yes you were. The left one. …"

Given that she couldn't think about a good enough line to divert his attention from her shameful failure, she just shrugged, stretching her hand for the cards.

" So….I told you all about my old flames….Tell me about yours. How many men possessed the necessary skills to get into your…heart? " the God questioned, genuinely curious about facts and details.

"In my…**heart** or in my…** bed**? "

The God sucked in a deep breath before answering , slightly taken aback by her unexpected bluntness.

" I don't really care about the losers who you have been fucking with…..Most of them are dead, anyway….Quite a long list, come to think about it….a real chore…."

Her eyes widened immediately at the news, as if he had told her about the fall of Troy….

"You don't need to act surprised about it…." he casually said, stubbornly ignoring his ever so experienced brain that was literally screaming at him that he had gone too far …He was playing with fire, and as always, he was going to get burned…

" Are you telling me that you killed my ex lov…."

He mechanically arched a dark eyebrow at that affected note in her voice, briefly considering the possibility of prolonging the suspense. Her revolted glare though convinced him to lie about his any implication in such demeaning affair.

" Relax….it was a joke, Xena…"

" It better be, cause if I ever find out that you had anything to do with ….."

" As I said, chill….Plus, they're dead, it doesn't matter who did the job, anyway…" he laughed, amused by that striking seriousness displayed on her face.

She parted her lips to send him straight to Hades, but once again, the instant she saw that utter happiness radiating from his face , she gave up any similar attempt..

"I was quite fond of Marcus….and Ulysses…."

"**Fond of**, huh?" he asked, visibly uncomfortable with the term she had decided to use in order to describe her relationship with those worthless mortals.

Silence was all he got in return, so he decided to push some more in order to find out what he really wanted to know.

"…..So let me get this straight….a no name and a rotten sailor who couldn't tell the East from the West- only good at bending a bow- are on top of your list?! "

He grinned widely of course, when she took the bait.

"Unlike you, Marcus was a good, honorable man, with a kind heart **and** morals! Whereas for Ulysses, he was the type that knew** exactly** what he wanted and **how** to get it, very much aware of the fact that when you love somebody, you also need to **give back **something not only to receive…"

" What a touching description! Why, I swear, for a moment I almost forgot that your boy toy was nothing but a crappy, second hand soldier, making a living out of sneaking some of Mezentius' weapons out of the city of Tracus, as for the wannabe king, he was as smart as a drunk Corinthian bicth during a Bacchic festival, having no other interesting things to do but fuck everything that had a hole. From Circe to Calypso and back, he didn't miss one sea nymph, that I tell you!"

" My, my Ares…. Are you sure it was Ulysses you were describing just now? It sure sounded like your own moral portrait…" she cunningly retorted, hiding her anger to perfection.

" Pretty positive , yeah…." he confirmed. " And uh….where exactly does the barbarian fit in your intricate love life?"

The God's voice was harsh, but not at all as stingy and cold as he had meant it to be.

She blinked in confusion at his question.

" **Solan's** father…." he clarified, making sure to emphasize the boy's name.

" Does it still bother you? That I decided to have a child with someone that wasn't you?" she brazenly asked, biting her lower lip after letting the line escape her mouth, and unwillingly, a tremor shook her from head to toes the minute her eyes met his deadly glare.

When he spoke though, his voice was way calmer than she had anticipated it.

" I'm afraid you'll need to keep that question in mind for later. It's my turn to do the asking. "

Xena gazed at him pensively for a couple of seconds, then forced some barely audible words out her mouth.

" I needed his army, he wanted a child…..It was a fair trade…."

"Was that all there was to it?" he insisted.

"In the beginning, yes…." she completed, without actually giving away anything of great importance about her long, painful love story with Borias….

"In the beginning….." he echoed, asking for more.

" Your turn. " she ended, pointing towards the cards he was holding, putting an end to his interrogatory.

"Three tens"

"One more."

"Four sevens"

" A king"

"Two kings!" the God exclaimed, throwing two cards in front of her, glancing briefly at her.

"And another one. "

"Where there's a kind there's also a queen…" he continued, silently wondering who would get to win that round.

"Two queens…." Xena subtly bit, hinting at his Amazon lover and at the Love Goddess.

" No….just one…" he contradicted, fixing her with his hypnotic, brown moons, and in less than a blink, the Warrior Princess could feel a strange warmth caressing her now bare shoulders and her left cheek….

For what it felt like forever, she closed her eyes, unable to resist that overwhelming sensation of protection taking over her, and then, as fast as she gave in, she shook her head, adamant about escaping his trap.

"You're bluffing!" she accused, jumping at the opportunity of catching him red-handed….Needless to say, she wasn't surprised when she discovered a six instead of a queen….

"Who would have guessed that you're such a cheater?" she jokingly remarked, but it was obvious that she wasn't talking about their card game.

"Or that you're such a player? ….We're made for each other…just like a hammer for an anvil…Too bad that you constantly refuse to acknowledge something that has always been there…."

"According to you."

"According to the blood running faster through your veins each time I'm near you…"

'That's just **rage,** Ares" she replied, with a cattish smirk that made him burst into a heartful laughter.

" Ok, have it your way…."

"First question…." she solemnly announced, interrupting their " heart to heart" conversation.

"Hit me…" he replied, on equally solemn tonality.

" Don't tempt me…" came the answer that only made him chuckle again. He had always appreciated her sense of humor….Dark humor, just like his….

" Something has always intrigued me…. " she hesitantly started.

" What is that?" he curiously asked, eager to find out what was it that aroused her interest to that extent.

" Well….let's see….you hate Gabrielle with a passion, you always go on and on about putting her head up on a spike, and still, you repeatedly saved her life…..I must admit, I was beyond stunned when you showed up and gave me the antidote for that poisoned arrow when the Persians attacked , back at Tripolis…."

Another round of hysterical laughter followed.

"What's so funny?" she spat, irritated by his reaction, frustration rippling through her.

" Your ridiculous insinuation that I could ever** hate** a mortal. You see, Xena, hate is a very powerful emotion. You need to actually consider someone your equal, or at least close to your status in order to hate them….For instance I hate Athena, I hate Zeus, Tartarus, I even hate you from time to time, but I do **not** hate that Battling Goose…. I just despise her…She as annoying as Hades….That's a totally different ball game, if you know what I mean."

"That doesn't answer my question though….Why save her?" she pushed, reluctantly searching for his gaze, forcing his hand to tell the truth.

His answer was of an outraging simplicity.

" She's fun to torment.

"Is that all?"

" I have no sexual interest in her if that's what you're afraid of…**She's not my type**…." he emphasized, aware of the fact that she was going to blow like a volcano at his insinuation.

" Who said anything about me worrying about you showing any kind of interest in Gabrielle?! Plus, I'd make sure I leave you cockless before getting anywhere near her!" she growled, to his ultimate satisfaction.

"As I said, no need to feel jealous about it….There's plenty of this **strawberry candy** for everyone to enjoy…." he said pointing towards his shaft.

"I'm not jealous!" she exclaimed, angrily throwing a few blades of torn grass in his face.

"You do look jealous. By Hades, you're the most jealous woman I have ever met in my life!" he remarked, adding some more fuel to the fire, and she was right about to explode in revolt ,when she suddenly stopped, realizing that she had fallen straight into his trap.

" You're a Bastard!"

" And you're absolutely marvelous when you're angry…"

A short pause followed, in which they both analyzed each other's expressions.

" I saved her because I knew she was important to you…..that it would have pained you if she had died…." he murmured, glancing away immediately. "Now can we change the subject? This is humiliating enough as it is…." he pleaded, trying to sketch a smile.

She just gulped nosily, still trying to recover from the shock.

" Sure….." she said, without actually being able to remember what her next question was.

A few more seconds passed until she finally found her words….

" I've never asked you if the rumors are true….do you have children? Is Evander really your son?"

Pensively running his hand through his short hair, he gave her a quick once over, a look of complicity painted on his face.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked in a low, sexy voice.

"Keeping secrets is my specialty…."she rushed to specify.

" For every living and breathing creature on the face of the planet, with the exception of Hercules and Nemesis and Zeus, he is my child, yes. "

Xena winced. Up to then, she was more than certain that the boy was indeed his. Hercules himself had confirmed it to her on one occasion.

" But he…..isn't…." she stated, an indirect question that he took his time to answer.

"No…."

She kept looking at him wonderingly, utter curiosity in his eyes.

"Zeus has always had a thing for Nemesis…and according to my loyal informers, Nemesis has always been in love with him…..To make a long story short, one day, Hercules -out of all people- came to me asking for a favor. It so happened that I could use his skills too at that moment, so we made a deal. While I had to play the possessive dad routine, convincing all Olympus, and mostly Hera that the child was mine, Hercules had do something for me, in return. "

"They feared Hera's wrath…" the Warrior Princess concluded, a bit surprised about that strange turn of events.

" Mommy dear is a bit crazy when it comes to Zeus' infidelities. Can't blame her. The old man has been cheating on her for millennia on end…."

"What did Hercules have to do for you….?"

"That's another story." he answered, trying to change her mind on making him confess that.

" I still have one question to ask. Tell me….What was the other half of the deal about?" she insisted, unable to shake the feeling that he was hiding something big…

For a split second, the God considered lying to her….It wasn't something he really wanted to share with her. When his lips parted though, the truth came rolling from his tongue….

" I asked him to accidentally bump into you while you and your pesky sidekick were off saving Prometheus…."

Xena's heart skipped a beat.

"What? Why would you do that?"

"Let's see….you were planning to free one of the Titans….The **Titans** as in **the eternal enemies of the Olympians, **Titans? Zeus would have pulverized you, Xena….He couldn't care less about the fact that you were the Chosen of War- your plan was doomed from the start and you didn't have the slightest clue about it…..But, with his precious son there, things were bound to be a bit different…I was positive he wouldn't risk hurting him while trying to kill you, so uh…..Jerkules' presence there made a good insurance policy…."

The Warrior Princess' jaw dropped….He had done that to protect her….unless he was lying.

"Can Hercules confirm that?"

He gave her a slight nod while she kept staring at him in disbelief….Had she been that wrong about him…..? Had she been that busy burying her love for him that she had forgotten how much he loved her, and how much he was willing to risk for her? Was the fog clouding her brain that thick?!

"Thank you…" she whispered, covering his hand with her own.

In response, he took it to her lips and placed a gentle kiss on the surface of her smooth, stain like skin.


	6. An eternity of loneliness

" So….are you going to let me in on your little secret tonight?" the War God jokingly questioned, visibly resigned to the fact that he had lost yet another round.

"What little secret ?" she asked, finally allowing herself to smile at that incontestable new victory.

" Where did you learn to play cards like that?" he continued, while casually gathering the rest of the cards still lying between them..

"Can't a girl keep a few secrets for herself?" she inquired, without removing her flirtatious, azure eyes from his bemused face.

He instantly felt his body react at the magnetic notes in her voice.

" Well…this little girl has a sack full of secrets to hold on to….Still…maybe you'd like to share this one with me…" he insisted, curling the words through his lips.

" It's quite obvious, actually…." she began, a bit intrigued about the fact that she had heard him suck in a sharp breath " While I was commanding your army, there weren't many possibilities of entertainment after a long day's battle….And given that all the rest of the soldiers were spending their precious spare time playing cards, I had to learn…It was a good chance for us to… **bond**….." she grimaced.

"You mean to** observe** them, to find out the latest gossip…."

"To discover possible traitors...to find out who I could trust and who I had to kill…."

" You sure make Daddy proud, Baby!" the God replied in such a sexy voice that Xena could feel an unprecedented wave of ecstasy ripping through her. She knew better than to allow her mind to get clouded over one single honeyed line though….

"But…" he continued, right before her own response had left her lips. " I do hope that was **not **your **only **form of entertainment back then….As recall, you were with me almost every night…."

" **Almost** every night…" she answered, chuckling implyingly at the hidden meaning in that phrase, and hardly had she finished that smartish observation that his expression visibly darkened at the delicate subtext of her words, a menacing enough glare to make an entire battalion of soldiers run for their lives, meeting her absolutely dazzling blues.

" Gods, I have never fully understood this possessiveness of yours! I don't think I ever will, anyway…" she bit, a faint thread of hysteria rising in her throat, utterly displeased with his macho reaction.

" It's hard to explain…" he simply said, giving her a tired smile, and breaking their gaze one second later.

"Try** impossible**…" she mumbled, on a softer tone that drew Ares' attention immediately, and as much as he wanted to start repeating to her the same old line according to which she was his** property** and that no one was allowed to touch her- not even virtually- he gave up. There was no point in getting on her nerves uselessly now that they were actually talking...I mean really** talking**….

"Killing **everyone **around me out of the sole reason of them being there, is **sick** , Ares"

" You call it sick, I call it** protective**. It's just a matter of lexical preference. Plus, I didn't really kill all living and breathing creatures around you, you're just overreacting…" he emphasized with a broad trickster smile.

Xena rolled her eyes at him, equally bemused by his approach.

"You're right….My horse is still alive….On the other hand, there was my entire third legion that you pulverized in a fit of rage, at least a dozen of my generals- for various reasons- a ridiculous number of soldiers guarding my tent, another uncertain number of randomly selected soldiers for Fates know what unpardonable mistakes, several Roman Magistrates and Consuls - to which ads an entire city-and **many, many** other unlucky peasants inhabiting the villages through which my armies passed….Really I've lost track….."

When her accurate resume ended, Ares' face was gleaming with unveiled satisfaction and delight. He was rather happy to hear that she still remembered those aspects of their extremely fruitful working relationship.

" Well….I'd say you nailed about….half of them…?"

"And you're quite generous with that half, right?" she questioned, aware that there had been many other victims she didn't have a clue about.

" **Quite** generous. " he repeated in a low voice, just to continue his line. " As for my motivation, well, **let's see**…." he started, using her own expression to summarize his idea, making the Warrior Princess shake her head in utter disapproval. She knew him well enough to tell that his so called** motivation** –whatever that might have been- was backend up by nothing but lame excuses meant to bluff his way out of the sticky situation she had created for him.

. "…..That third legion had the nerve to address you disrespectfully, those generals were plotting against you, the men assigned with guarding your tent were peeking at you while you were getting undressed, those randomly selected soldiers were Roman spies, those Magistrates and Consuls had a loose tongue- I kinda lost my temper when one of them called you a **cocksucking cunt…**.I accidentally burnt the entire city along with them …."

"Could I have a glass of wine please? …" Xena interrupted him – a bit out of the blue, really- , wishing she had elegantly avoided the subject in the first place.

" Of course, Princess…" he casually stated, making a goblet of crimson wine appear in her hand, while a similar one materialized in his. He knew she hated drinking alone.

A selection of fruits also appeared in between them .

" Consider it an early breakfast…." he remarked, pointing towards the fruits.

" Burning down the city wasn't really accidental , was it?" she inquired, tossing off half of the cup.

The God just fixed her with his longing amber eyes for a few moments and then humored her with voicing that very obvious answer-she had been eagerly expecting.

"I'm not Nero, Xena. I know what I'm doing. So no, it wasn't . "

"Those people were innocent, Ares….It wasn't their fault that their leaders spoke …."

" The **masses** were the ones who chose their leaders….in order to **represent **them….And they did…" he concluded, filling her now empty goblet with one wave of his hand.

"Where was I? " he carelessly continued " Oh yeah…the **unlucky** peasants….They were indeed unlucky….That's the dark face of War….there are always casualties…Innocent victims that could have been spared….but weren't."

As much as she wanted to lash out at him and once again rain a long list of frustrating reproaches over his arrogant persona, the Warrior Princess couldn't restrain a silly, cartoon like smile, at his very unconvincing rationale.

" I've said it before, and I'll say it now….You're sick…You should be institutionalized."

Ares didn't offer a reply right away, being too busy chewing on some grapes. He loved grapes….In his vision, they went perfectly with the wine. That good tasting liquid was made out of them after all, so….It kinda made sense.

" Sadly, there's no mental institution that can handle me…." he bantered, silently wondering why did she feel the need to drink….It was a very rare sight to see…

"There's a fine one near Pylos….Close to the sea. You'd love it…."

" If you were willing to play doctor, I'd be tempted to accept being locked there for an indefinite period of time…." he suggested, biting his lower lip.

"**Indefinite**, huh?" Xena inquired, arching an eyebrow at his comment. I wonder how will it be like when I get old and grey and…..frighteningly ugly…

Ares's gaze suddenly turned cutting enough to go through steel. His heart cramped with pain, but not precisely at the spectral image she had had the courage to describe...

There was a long moment of silence during which they both continued seeping on their wine, anxious to fill that awkward sensation with something…

" That's a fact, Ares…." she finally spoke. "Mortals do get old….and they die…"

"Don't even go there…." he said, avoiding her gaze, pretending not to feel affected by the iciness in her line.

"Why not? We should both learn to agree to disagree…"

" You do know the answer to that question Xena, there's no use fighting over it, if that's what you're after…" he growled, in an almost beastly manner.

She didn't even flinch though at the thunderous tone of his voice.

" Maybe I can get you to change your mind…" the charmingly uttered words poured from her lips while she closed in the distance between them.

He gently pushed her back, putting a halt to her cunning intentions.

" No way…..that's the only thing I'm not willing to bargain with you…." the God responded, in a dead serious tone.

" It's my life , Ares…." she sharply reminded him, her breath quickening at the implications of his statement.

" And you're my Chosen…..Now and FOREVER. That hasn't changed…."

"It could if you had the slightest decency…."

"Not gonna happen Xena…Now drop it! You are **immortal** whether you like it or not. I couldn't care less about the fact that you prefer to hide behind this clay mask every freaking day…" he yelled, waving his hand at her.

In less than a blink, the Warrior Princess was about ten years younger. She instantly broke the mirror that he had simultaneously materialized in front of her.

"Look at it! " he kept shouting, making the mirror whole again. "This is who you are , and this is who you'll be until the end of time! You'd better get used to it!"

"Well maybe I don't want to get used to it!" she childishly protested through gritted teeth, crushed by his rejection.

"Princess...how many times before did we have the same conversation? Your loved ones will die…Just like they're programmed to die…..Mortals die…as you yourself said it, that's why they're called MORTALS….But you'll get over it….The pain will gradually fade, especially given that you'll get to visit them as often as you want to….You can even move to Tartarus to keep them company if that makes you happy, as long as that means you'll be sticking around for as long as possible…."

"Gee, thanks!" she sneered. "But that's not the problem….I'm well aware that they re going to die….I've even learned to cope with the idea…"

"What can't you cope with then, Xena?"

She just looked away, reluctant about even bringing the subject up for discussion, stretching her hand for a couple of cards that the God had missed.

"Oh no you don't! Speak up! What in the world freaks you so much as to want so badly to get out of this?... To repeatedly push me away each time I try to get one step closer to you, when we both know that you can't simply delete everything that has happened between us up to now, with a snap of your fingers?"

"I don't want to live an eternity…."she whispered, ignoring the cynical smile that seized his lips faster than she got the chance to end her line.

"Why ever not? What wrong with immortality? " he paused a bit " Is it me? Am I really that absent minded that I haven't realized that you stopped loving me? Is that it?" he asked, a questioned that he had been avoiding for years now….He had to know though.

Her heart skipped a bit as she contemplated reality…That was her ticket out of his life for good….She couldn't bare it though…..The words came out of her barely parted lips on their own…

" I couldn't handle it…"

He tensed, a muscle ticking at his jaw.

" Couldn't handle what? Living forever? Trust me, Honey, it's way more fun than it seems…..You'd be perfect for Olympus. Fates know that place needs a woman's touch...Aphrodite has really screwed up with the decoration big time..."

" Living without you for the rest of time…." she murmured, words that echoed painfully in his head.

He just gave her a puzzled look, unable to voice his question.

"The last thing I want is to become a second Hera, Ares….To have to follow your every move, to see you cheat on me with every mortal or Goddess that crosses your path….To get to see you drift away from me more and more, with each passing day...It would be too much….an eternity of loneliness…"

Shock caused any protest to wedge in his throat….


	7. Thorns of love

Her words felt like sharp thorns to the heart, sharp thorns leaving behind crimson drops of blood and death.

"That would never happen, Xena….that would never happen and you know it…." he contradicted, gently caressing her cheek.

"No I don't. **Forever** is a long time…" she bitterly replied, on the tone of a person extremely sure of herself.

" Not long enough. Not for me…"

"It is **for me**…..Just be honest with yourself for once, Ares. There's no way in Tartarus you'd be faithful to one woman for infinity. That's not going to happen. "

" With you, I'd be more than willing to experience it…." he replied, brushing a few loose silken strands from her beautiful face, his voice irresistibly alluring and smooth, obviously having decided that it was high time he pulled out the heavy artillery.

"Yeah well, between **being willing** to do something and **actually doing it,** there's a huge difference. "

He pressed his lips together and analyzed the grimness in her eyes for a brief second…

"Why do you always have to twist my words? **I love you**. There would be no one but you…."

"I bet that's what Zeus told Hera before they got married too..." she whispered in a low, hopeless voice.

"Don't you dare compare me with that old toad, cause we have nothing in common !" he snapped, despite himself.

" You are your father's son, Ares. There will always be some good looking priestess, some fascinating mortal or Goddess to catch your eye, right around the corner. I know you, and as much as you hate to admit it, you know I'm right. I'd end up cursing your name for the rest of eternity, and you'd be cursing mine back while we'd be cheating on each other lout of pure spite, feeling miserable for having chosen a life together…"

" No we wouldn't. " he chuckled , wanting to classically emphasize the ridiculousness of her statement, but he only managed to sound terribly nervous. "We don't have to stoop that low..."

The Warrior Princess sighed.

"You're in denial…."

" How can you even say that? Knowing what we've been through, knowing what I feel for you?" he said, grabbing her arm, and forcefully pulling her even closer than she already was.

"What you feel for me?! I'm not even on your Gods damned list!" she venomously bit, mentally slapping herself for having said that out loud.

" On my list? What list? Wha….. Xena come on! " he blew uncontrollably on a scandalized tone the moment he finally understood where she was coming from. " Of course you're not on the fucking list! As I see things, lumping you, Dite and Penthesilea together would actually mean that I consider you their equal….which you are obviously **not.** You couldn't possibly compare my love for you with the fleeting passion I felt for them or for any other woman for that matter! "

" You sure didn't describe those relationships like some meaningless, **fleeting affairs**…." she replied, her voice broken and full of sadness.

Ares was stunned. He couldn't believe his ears. Did she really mean that?

"Don't tell me you're actually jealous of them…."

"I'm not jealous. I'm just trying to make a point. "

"What point? That you're too much of a coward to take some risks in order to be happy?!"

"That I don't trust you enough, not in the long run! "she yelled her response, frustrated that he didn't show the slightest interest in at least trying to see things from her point of view, not even for one tiny sec.

" Well, I guess you'll just have to learn to deal with this idea too, then…" he dismissively replied, in his old, characteristic macho War God style.

"You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

" No, Hun, sorry. "

"Ares…" she murmured, looking away from him for a split second, failing to notice that the God was way too entranced by the sound of her voice to pay any attention to what she was saying.

"You haven't answered my question yet, by the way. " he cut in" What's left? After all the ups and downs, the cheating the lying, the scheming ….am I still there?" he questioned, moving his hand over to her chest, where her heart was.

"It's not enough…."

"Am I ?" he insisted, searching for her troubled, beryl moons.

"If I tell you you're **not**, will you leave me alone?" she inquired, her alert mind sensing an opportunity.

He made sure to bluntly disappoint her as soon as her line ended, his eyes flickering with playful mischief, in a vain attempt to change the mood.

" Errr…..no"

"What's the point in bothering to ask, then? You always end up doing whatever you feel like, it doesn't matter what I say or what I feel…."

She was obviously not joking.

"It does, actually."

"You sure have a strange way of showing it. " she answered, looking down at her hands, fighting with herself to hold back a tear that had been threatening to fall for quite awhile now….

"Look….I will never give up on you, Xena…**NEVER.** But that doesn't mean that I don't give a damn about your feelings." he uselessly tried to reason with her.

"Gods you can be such an arrogant Bastard at times! You'll tear my heart apart…. bit by bit, Ares. I'll end up hating you with a passion. You're just too cocky to admit I'm right. " she quietly concluded, barely above a whisper,

"Just give me one chance to prove you wrong. One chance , Xena…it's all I'm asking…."

"I am…..**give up on me**…That's the chance I'm offering. Take it…." she said after a long pause, a bit tired to keep repeating the same thing over and over again.

" What?"

"You know the old saying….."

"What ? If you love her, let her go?"

His heart began thudding in his chest at the mere thought of their little chit chat ever turning real.

" If she comes back she's yours forever….." she challengingly added.

" Do you have ANY idea what effect will breaking our bound have? " he started.

"And I mean physical effects, Princess…for **both** of us…You will be trashing in pain. **Excruciating** pain that not even the wildest human mind could imagine….horrible suffering that no mortal or immortal hands will be able to alleviate. You'll be begging to all the Gods of Olympus to end your life, and there will be no one willing to answer your prayers. "

"…._Tears of blood will be falling from your eyes, and an abyss of demonic torment will take over your heart. You will be imploring for Death and Death will not hear your voice, for your voice will be long wasted in screams of agony that no being flying in the skies or walking the Earth has ever heard before_…." Xena calmly continued as if she weren't speaking about some life threatening situation but about her daily chore… "I know. I was there when we took those vows, remember?"

"I do. You seem to have misunderstood the concept of **excruciating **in this context, though.**" ** he remarked, every muscle in his body tensing at the image forming before his eyes.

"I haven't…. I just chose to ignore it." she quickly responded.

"How wise of you. " he mocked, rolling his eyes at her superfluity.

"I'm not afraid of pain…"

"That's only because you haven't experienced pain yet…**.Real** pain….You're unlikely to survive such ordeal Xena. Plus….how many days was it supposed to last, again?"

" Seven….?"

"**Seven**…" he repeated, his gaze drilling into hers.

" Is the Big Bad God of war scared of a bit of pain? Is that it?"

"No. I'm scared of losing you….for good…..I'm terrified about the thought of hearing you scream my name , without being able to come to you, of the image of you slowly dying and not being allowed to ease your pain…."

Xena's heart skipped a beat at the sound of his words. She literally felt her world spinning out from under her feet as the meaning of his line sank in, and it took everything she had to hold it together. She let out a sharp gasp before answering.

" I'll live." she hardly forced herself to utter, no trace of conviction in her voice.

" I'm not sure you will. Tartarus, I'm not sure** I** will….."

" Can you at least consider it? I don't want an answer right away….Just …just think about it. ..Ares, **please**…."

Once again, she couldn't believe what she was doing…almost begging for him to do what she wanted.

"Is it that important to you…..?" he pensively questioned, without really expecting an answer.

"Yes…." she said, loud and clear, no trace of doubt or hesitation in her voice.

"Well how about me, Xena? Am I not important to you? Don't I count…at all?" he asked, his voice empty.

The way he said that and the look in his eyes, made her soul feel as heavy as a millstone.

"Don't say that…..Of course you do….It's just that…."

"They don't love you like I do….Gabrielle, your mother, your friends….They could all live without you, but I can't. Why can't you see that? You're the only thing that matters to me in this whole damned world…. "

"If that's true….if I matter to you** that** much, then do what I asked….." she pleaded one last time, a single, unchecked tear striping her flawless face.


	8. Pain Land

***** I FIGURED I DIDN'T KEEP YOU PEOPLE WAITING TOO LONG IN ORDER TO FIND OUT WHAT OUR CHARACTERS WERE UP TO- SO ENJOY THE UPDATE. A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL THE REVIEWERS. *** **

"…**_If you love me you'll do it_**… .Talking about the perfect clichés. Lucky for you, my precious Warrior Princess, I'm not that easily impressed….And before you start screaming in my face that you hate my guts, let me just tell you that I'm doing it all out of that boundless yet highly unappreciated love for you….No trace of egomania there, what so ever…." the God said with a sigh, batting playfully his eyelashes at her. " Don't feel too bad about it though. Just for the sake of not completely and irremediably demolishing the myth according to which I can never refuse my ultimately sexy Chosen –no matter what she asks of me- I'm willing to break my own rules **and** cut you a little deal…."

"You and your deals" she hissed, aware of the fact that he was elegantly blowing away all her chances at freedom.

" You'll be pleased with my offer, I promise." he quickly intervened, not wanting to demoralize her even more. " As you seem extremely eager to severe our bond, I'd be more than happy to show you what you will be missing…..A vision from an alternative future, in which somehow- to my utter surprise- you proved to be a bit more determined that I was, and in which- probably out of revolt alone- I went along with your unfathomable request….

Her jaw tightened and an infuriated smirk appeared on her face, but still, she couldn't help arching a sharp eyebrow at his suggestion . Ares took that as a subtle sign to go on presenting his impossible to refuse idea.

" Aaaand that's not all…The best is yet to come! As part of my special offer for you, I'm even willing to make the entire projection unfold entirely in that pretty little head of yours. You'll be basically enjoying the full 3D pack, in a completely unique manner….Extreme physical pain and high quality soul wrenching moments included, …."

" The 3D pack?" she questioned, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Don't mind me. That's futuristic talk, Baby. I got carried away. But don't worry though, you'll get there….in about 2000 years. …" he subtly patronized, flashing her a bright, toothy grin.

" You're quite the salesman. " she replied, making no comments about the pungent irony in his line "And uh… what exactly is it that you want in return? Do I need to sell my soul or something? " she bit, cocking her head to the side.

" Sadly, you can't do that twice, now, can you? You've already done it when you pledged yourself to me…**.But** let's not dwell on the past too much….No…actually what I want is for you to spend by my side to an equal amount of days for every day of ordeal I 've just rescued you from…." he enthusiastically announced, snapping his fingers and creating a couple of sparks in the air, to Xena's visible disinterest.

"Seven days of…..?"

"Endless orgy….sex , wine , belly dancing, more sex….."

When she just gave him her **"never gonna happen"** look he simply adjusted his answer to something decent enough for her to accept.

" Right….go ahead and spoil all the fun for me…Of whatever we feel like doing, ok?"

"Of whatever **you **feel like doing, was it again?"

"Oh, don't be mean! I'll make it worth your while, pinky swear! …..No tying you to the bed and fucking you to oblivion unless you want me too…. "

"You're such a jerk!" she said, shaking her head after drilling him with her steely gaze.

"Why do women always say that…?" the God muttered to himself, suddenly recalling at least another thousand or so identically phrased remarks.

"Because it's true!" the Warrior Princess didn't miss the opportunity to confirm, silently wondering if there was anything in the world that could actually get to him.

" So….what do you say?" Ares asked after a short pause, trying to keep that lively note in his voice. " You gotta admit it, it's a small price to pay in order to put your mind at rest once and for all….you won't get a fairer deal elsewhere…" he concluded, as if there was actually anyone as reckless as he was out there, willing to take such risks.

" Four days " she tried to negotiate.

" Six " he firmly suggested.

"Five "

" Perfect. Five it is. You got yourself a deal !" he exclaimed, that irritating trademark grin of his extending from one ear to the other, quite proud with what he had accomplished that night. " Now…what do you say?" he continued on the voice of a father struggling to educate his child.

She just gave him a puzzled enough glance to make him laugh at her reaction.

"Read my lips: **thank you, Ares**….."

She had to sneer at his outrageous demand. In response, she just threw some more grass blades in his face, which he pushed away with not as much discontent as she would have love to see painted on his features. .

"No rush….You'll thank me anyway once you come to your senses.! Ok….What are we waiting for? Let's do this. Are you ready?"

"Yes…" she murmured, not really knowing what she gad gotten herself into.

" Good….Before you close your eyes, now, we'll need to come up with a safe word. Given that you're the ultimate sadomasochistic female I've met in my entire godly existence –and Zeus knows that up to now it hasn't been a short one- I might just mistaken your screams of pain with the ones of pleasure…That won't help you much when it comes to me bringing you back…"

"Chakram "she answered, without giving the word too much thought.

"It's a good thing you didn't choose a whip….Ok, here we go. Eyes shut…anaaand, enjoy your ride in Pain Land, Princess….."

**XXX **

In a split second, the Warrior Princess found herself wandering about in what she was somehow certain to be the gloomy temple of the Fates, and to her unspeakable horror, as she reached the main hall, she realized that she was stuck- up to her knees- in something resembling very much to mud, through which hundreds of snakes were rapidly making their way without actually touching her….Not yet anyway….

She distressfully cast a glance at the large, poorly lighted space around her, and it didn't take too long for her to notice in the area of the altar, the three Fates performing some blood ritual that she could easily recognize given the fact that she herself had done it several times before- during her short but incredibly soul damaging partnership with Alti…..

Her frown got even deeper the instant she noticed that even if she couldn't hear them talking, she was strangely aware of what they were saying, and everything looked strikingly familiar as if she had lived all that scene before, some weird déjà vu feeling that there was no way she was able to rationally explain.

As she made an effort to advance through that disgustingly smelling mud, she abruptly froze in place as a fresh wave of panic swept through her….At her left, to her utter amazement, right out of nowhere, she saw someone bearing a striking resemblance to Ares, a tall, dark man, that couldn't have been him, though…..His face, as white as a burial sheet was devoid of any emotion with the exception of profound, harrowing pain, and his eyes, usually flickering with either lust of mischief were of an aggravating emptiness….Fresh trails of tears were yet to dry on his cheeks.

Xena 's heart broke into pieces as she saw him close his eyes in defeat. She called his name but he didn't turn his head to look at her….Instead, he kept staring absently at the Fates, and when the youngest of them came with a dagger his way, he just wordlessly stretched out his hand. The razor sharp blade cut his wrist within a blink, letting a fine stream of blood trail down towards the tips of his fingers. Dark blood, dark just like War….

Xena was officially in shock. He didn't flinch a muscle when Clotho took his other hand, making a similar cut to his other wrist. Her eyes flew wide open the minute she finally understood what was going on: that was the dagger of Helios. There was certainly no other explanation for the fact that he was bleeding…..Gods didn't usually bleed….Mortal wounds were beneath their immortal nature.

" What are you doing ? Get away from him!" she growled at the girl when she finally realized what was going on, but her voice was a mere murmur.

"Aresss!" she screamed his name from the top of her lungs this time, but he sketched no gesture that he could actually hear her in spite of their nearness. She tried to go to him, to help him, but as soon as her hand was extended his way, something very similar to an invisible blade slashed her flesh. Simultaneously, the snakes directed their beastly attention towards her. Before she knew it, she was fighting them viciously, fighting for her life while they began to ferociously bite and strangle her, curling around her arms and legs, mercilessly injecting their venom in her now trashing body….

In the meantime, Clotho had moved closer to her. There was a round silver vessel full of blood in her hand, Ares' blood, Xena noticed, and as the girl brought it up, for her to see it better, her entire being screamed in revolt at the images that began forming on the liquid's crystal clear surface…..


	9. Chakram

As the blood in the vessel began to spin under her very eyes, Xena's heart tore like paper at the images unfolding on the dark liquid's surface, images that, under some kind of unseen before spell, rose gradually higher and higher from the bowl until something resembling very well to a nowadays hologram was formed….It didn't take the Warrior Princess too long to understand that she couldn't associate neither the place nor fragments of conversation with anything familiar, simply because nothing of what she was seeing had actually happened….It was just a version of the future...probably one of many, she said to herself...

For what appeared to last an eternity, she watched in mute amazement how the incredibly sexy Xena from the vessel was walking along a deserted beach towards a visibly confused War God- whose eyes were literally glued to her curvaceous body- and despite the very obvious sorrow engraved on his handsome, features, a sparkle of irrepressible thrill and lust started flickering on the surface of his troubled amber moons as the physical distance between them began melting away with every step she was taking.

For a reason that seemed to escape the sticky cobweb of his disturbingly sharp mind, the raven haired warrioress was cattishly smiling, and, to get him even more intrigued- probably expertly acting according to some perfectly written scenario- she girlishly chuckled when she kicked some water his way, just for the sake of seeing him frown. Her unnaturally childish behavior didn't seem to get the right reaction from Ares though, who - at least at that moment -could only focus on the soaking wet flimsy negligee she was wearing,and that, now under the considerably stronger light of the full moon was finally revealing everything he had been longing to see: those flawlessly sculpted breasts bouncing lightly up and down as she moved even closer to him.

For a split second, while her hand rose to touch his chest, the torturous but wise idea to turn around and leave flashed through his clouded mind, disappearing nonetheless like a plume of smoke at the unique contact with her fingertips, now teasingly gliding down his chest through the generous opening of his leather vest.

He instinctively tilted his head a little, looking for a better angle to admire those fully erect nipples, breathing slow, heavy breaths in the vain attempt to cling on to the little self control he still had over himself.

When she completely closed in the distance between them, her perky breasts now pressing firmly against his upper torso , he swallowed painfully, the hot blood pooling in his groin and stiffening his cock, making it impossibly hard for him to restrain a loud groan while imagining himself fucking her long and hard, right there on the wet sand. The mere idea of her naked body squirming uncontrollably under the effect of his violent shoves, put an unbearable pressure against his temples, making his brain feel as if it were on the verge of imploding.

Gods, he wanted to lick away those salty droplets of seawater from her skin, so, so badly !

" I thought you said you wanted me out of your life…..Breaking our bond means exactly that, Xena…..There's no turning back if….." he clumsily started, just to be cut off by her muffled "Shhhhhh!" and by the unique sensation of her soft tongue circling his now slightly parted lips.

" What are you doing here? What do you want?" he asked in a weak, trembling voice- one that he himself found it difficult to recognize-his pupils dilated with desire, in a last effort to listen to his brain for once- his only trustable advisor who was now literally screaming for him to run away from her as fast as his legs could carry him…..She had a devilish charm that he knew he couldn't resist, one that would only bring more suffering to his already torn apart, burning heart.

The only answer he got to those barely uttered questions, was the exquisite flavor of her tongue- now darting in and out his mouth, naughtily moving against his own with such intensity that the sensation now ripping through him left him breathless…He was desperate to have her, he couldn't stand one minute without throwing her down and ramming his throbbing cock inside her.

As if reading his mind,and definitely without waiting for an invitation, a very determinate Xena took matters into her own hands, savagely pushing the God down. Way before he realized what was happening, he was already on his back, and she was impatiently straddling his hips, moaning with pleasure at the contact of his rock hard shaft with her slick pussy- a reaction that only made him wanna leave all precaution aside and just enjoy that unbelievably arousing moment that he could just tell it was going to turn into an extremely promising ride.

" Do you want me….? " her intoxicating voice echoed through him, causing his breath to catch in his throat before answering.

"It sure seems that way….." he whispered back, hardly finding the right words to make up a sentence. The last part of what he wanted to say had actually mercilessly dissolved in what turned out to be a low, guttural grunt as she started rubbing herself against his full length, slowly rocking back and fort, which resulted in an overwhelming, impossible to ignore heat that began spreading between the Warrior Princess' legs...

In return, as some kind of silent vengeance, he beastly dug his fingers into her ass cheeks, the thought of parting them wider in but a matter of minutes and thrusting himself deep inside her, bringing him at the brink of an unearthly orgasm...

It was of no surprise that the frustration written all over his face was as obvious as noonday sun when she finally paused for a few seconds, taking her time to look him in the eyes before going any further, making him shiver with anticipation. Her eyes were blazing like the eyes of a tigress about to devour some poor, defenseless animal, twin points of fire that instantly reminded him that they were so much alike….That superhuman strength to rival only his own…the ultimate turn on…

And then, right when she was about to lower herself on his shaft, to finally take it in and to virtually send him flying to Olympus and back, his entire world was reduced to a pile of ashes when, in the blink of an eye, he found himself chained against his throne- a throne that had appeared right out of nowhere- all this while she was hysterically laughing just a few feet away- a sinister laugh that he had only heard a few millennia before- in the pits of Tartarus where Zeus had sent him as punishment for having dared hit him during one of his infamous fits of rage….-

With inhuman growls and shameless- but very creative- cursing, he uselessly tried to free himself. He was obviously held in place by chains made by none other than the unmatchable Hephaestus …So no, he wasn't going anywhere…anywhere at all, despite going all crazy to escape that degrading trap….

If he might have seemed a bit wild while attempting to regain his freedom nonetheless, one can only imagine what really happened when he saw the object of his desires, laying carelessly on the beach, in the same spot where they had stood but minutes before, playing with herself while from the opposite direction came none other than Hercules, his oldest and worst nightmare…

Before anything even occurred,the God had already started screaming his lungs out, his heart hammering with boundless rage against his now aching chest.

"You filthy whore! I'm gonna kill you! I'll kill you and drink even the last drop of you blood!"- a quite familiar line taking into consideration their dark, complicated past, one might say...

His bluntly expressed fury was of no use though, not with Hercules' moans covering almost completely his painful screams when she got on top of him , her legs wide open so that she could generously offer Ares the perfect view of her slit, glistening with moist in the moonlight, right there, a few steps away from him. In no time, she began to feverishly suck the demi Gods' mammoth sized cock, deep throating him while the hero 's tongue returned the favor, rasping over her pussy, rolling it again and again over her clit just to finally thrust inside her, a slow, measured thrust at first that made her hips jerk in surprise.

Ares was in agony…..He felt as if he were dying….He couldn't hear or see anything anymore….The only sounds that his eardrums were still able to decode were the ones of her heavy, labored pants and her muffled moans of pleasure, and the only thing he could still see before his eyes was his Princess' dark pink, shining with moisture pussy…He could distinctly smell her arousal from his throne, musky and sweet, as Hercules decided to replace his smooth tongue with his fingers, causing her vagina to tingle violently at the much more physical contact. Their moans reached torturously high notes as they got closer to their climax, and each one sent a dagger straight in the War God' heart…..

Unfortunately for him, the dramatic events unfolding before him repeated countless times that night, the only thing that changed being the landscape and the male character that got to fuck his precious Chosen...and she was insatiable…Scenes looking like something worthy of those orgies meant to make decadent Rome even more famous than it already was….

Every once in awhile, she remembered to teasingly rub herself against the War God too, just too keep him interested, occasionally sucking him - without actually giving him the desperately needed relief- and that only managed to get him even more furious, even more frustrated and ready to tear her apart…

Before dawn came, he just couldn't stand hearing those squeals of utter abandon any more while she was- for the hundredth time or so- stabbing herself down some man's shaft, crying and gasping as loud as her vocal cords allowed her too, nor the sound of sweat soaked flesh smacking sharply against naked flesh.

Xena's vision ended abruptly with the God finally breaking his chains and smashing her head against a rock, a bloody enough spectacle that was surely going to haunt him for the rest of his immortal days…..

**XXX**

" Drink Xena…Drink the content of the vessel and he will forget everything related to you, from your name to your face….." Clotho urged. " Drink his memories and free yourselves from the bond you so unconsciously chose back when your mind was of an revolting innocence….."

Without a doubt in her mind, the Warrior Princess threw her a disgusted look, shifting her gaze for the last time towards the shadow that Ares had become-and that she just couldn't recognize now-before the word escaped her lips, almost on its own….

**"Chakram!"**


	10. Fiery sparkles

" Drink Xena." Clotho's commanding voice echoed once again while she forcefully took the vessel to her lips, and, to the Warrior Princess' horror , as she repeated the safe word, nothing happened.

**"Chakram…."**

" There's no turning back…."

"No. This is a choice that only I can make and I refuse to break the bond…." Xena protested, pushing the bowl away with her hand.

"It's too late….Your patron God has already decided for you. …"

There was a brief moment of silence during which Xena's brain started a desperate hunt for information…."My patron God…." she repeated, her eyes widening at the awareness that she couldn't remember neither the name nor the visage of the man who she knew held a boundless importance to her….

" Everything related to him was erased from your mind the minute he cursed your name. Drink, and he will also be free….You have the power to put an end to his misery…."

Her gaze lost in a void, Xena looked around, and this time, despite noticing Ares just a few feet away from her, she failed to recognize him. Their eyes met for a brief moment, but there was no sparkle of familiarity in them, and while on the surface the God's eyes tears that refused to be shed were glistening like stars in the night sky, the Warrior Princess' moons were as cold as ice…..He meant nothing to her…

" Something's not right….This….all of this shouldn't have happened….." she muttered her conclusion- more to herself than for Clotho to hear- the instant a sudden wave of indescribable pain hit her chest from the inside, making her body convulse with pain, an unseen force literally crushing her rib cage and choking her at the same time….

" No it shouldn't have. Your connection should have lasted until the end of time and beyond. It was unbreakable…"

"….by mortals or Gods alike…." Xena instinctively continued, gasping for air as soon as the words left her lips, and, in spite of the fact that it made no sense at all, her hands rose to cover her chest like a shield, right above her heart, carefully touching each inch of skin there as if checking to see if everything was in place. An acute feeling of emptiness- growing more and more unbearable by the second- had taken her to the point where she was seriously wondering if there was something physically wrong with her or it was just her mind that was so screwed up.

"What's happening to me?" she asked the Fate, sheer terror radiating from her aura.

" It is the pain of loss, eating at your soul. Your punishment. You must learn to live with it. It will never go away but you'll get to accept it in time…."

"Punishment for what?" she immediately protested, unable to understand what Clotho was talking about.

"For having broken your vows….For having betrayed a sacred promise…It is the price that you must now pay for your newly gained freedom…" she explained, and Xena noticed that there was no trace of compassion in her eyes as she said it. To make things even worse, by the time the woman stopped speaking, something new had started building inside the Warrior Princess' heart: along with the unexplained emptiness, loneliness and desperation , there was also a bitter sadness that added to the mix, one she just knew she couldn't live with, throwing her in state very close to mourning, as if everyone around her had died and she had died along with them….

Letting out a sharp breath, the Warrior Princess closed her eyes for a brief moment, trying to justify all those mental abnormalities, struggling to reach a few happy memories she could hold on to, only to discover that she had only managed to slide further down on the chute of a dangerously developing depression. There was no face, no smile, no memory her fogged mind could connect to…..There was nothing left for her to access, just white, pure white spots and spaces where her childhood and teenage years had been…..

To make things even worse, her brain was going though incredible efforts to remember a name….a certain name around which her entire universe had been built and that now had simply vanished from her mind, gone, just like that, in the fraction of a second.

" **Chakram!" **she yelled again, so loud this time that the sound of her voice caused the walls of the temple to crack …A blinding, silvery blue light immediately formed around her, disintegrating the borders of reality.

**XXX**

"My, my!….Look who's back! "

The War God's husky voice almost caused her heart to stop, but for once, boy was she glad to hear him!

" Ares…." she whispered his name , a note of utter veneration present in her tonality.

" Who did you expect? The All Mighty Zeus ? " he said with a chuckle, narrowing his eyes at her relieved expression, rapidly identifying the marks of some pretty traumatic, recent experience that he had no knowledge about." So…how was the joyride? Was it as fun as you hoped it would be?"

She didn't answer. She just gulped nosily and looked quietly around, allowing her brain the needed time to adjust to this new fabric of reality….

" You were supposed to get me out of there the minute I uttered the safe word! " she accusingly barked, glaring daggers his way.

"I know, but you looked as if you were really enjoying yourself so I figured I'd let you spend a bit more quality time in your own private patch of the Elysian Fields ….." he replied, doing his best to eliminate the acid irony in his voice...There was no way Xena was going to miss that, though...

" Yeah, thanks!" she mumbled, wishing he had been close enough for her to kick him straight in the groin in discreet acknowledgement.

"Anyway, these ten minutes must have been the best spent minutes of your life so far….Any words of wisdom you'd like to share on this special occasion?"

**"Ten** minutes?" Xena asked incredulously. It felt as if she had been away for hours….

" More like eight . " he corrected. "You see, Princess, in Tartarus time flows a bit differently…It doesn't flow actually, for there is no time, but anyway….just so you get an idea of what happened…."

"I was in** Tartarus**?"

" I suppose so, yes….What did you see, by the way? It is said that when a bond is broken, the victims' worst fears slash nightmares become their torment…..What was it like? Any physical violence that you couldn't take any more? Some whipping maybe...the Gauntlet? The irritating Blonde dying ? The emptiness? So many options they could have chosen from...which one was it?" he openly interrogated, his inquisitive eyes focused on studying her any reaction….Whatever it had been, she didn't cope with it very well….She was a mess….

" I don't want to talk about it…"

"Wow. It was** that** bad, huh? Sorry about that. You've been asking for it. Still want us to break up ?" he insisted, making sure to display a mischievous grin while serving her that line.

" Don't push it…." she simply warned, finally standing up, and looking over her shoulder towards the horizon. " I'm still considering the idea…." she continued, in a low, serious voice. "The sun is about to rise soon…..What about the Roman troops? "

"What about them? "

"You said that if I won…." she frenziedly began to remind him, balling up her fists at him.

" I guess I did , didn't I?" he interrupted, laughing at her fierceness. "Fine, fine…" he added, before she lost her temper and started launching a series of punches at him, aware of her savage intentions.

" Let's go kick some ass ...and then you should really get some sleep! You've been up all night…You sure look tired. Sadly, I haven't tired you the way I would have loved too, but ….we do have **five full days** for that…." the War God said, extending his hand for her to grab.

The moment the tips of her fingers touched his palm, to Xena's amazement, a fine line of bright red, tingling electricity ignited in her shoulder and travelled at impressive speed through the whole length of her arm, just to be met half way by another fiery line springing from his hand.

She flinched at the contact, totally taken aback by the lively sparks that were now sizzling beneath her fingertips.

" I think this means we have a thing….." he murmured against her ear, pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around her.

She silently gazed down at her hand once again before they vanished….There had definitely been sparkles there…


End file.
